Ei)e Borfc. 




He set my feet upon a rock. Ps. xl., 2. 



THE 



ROCK. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY EEV. HENRY A. 
BOARDMAN, D.D. 



I \\ 



I 
V 



< 






PHILADELPHIA: 

AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

1122 Chestnut Street. 



New York : Boston : 

599 Broadway. I 141 Washington St. 



V 



5& 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by 
THE AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. 




INTRODUCTION. 



Through the courtesy of the Publishing Com- 
mittee of the American Sunday-School Union, I 
have had an opportunity of looking over the 
sheets of the following work in advance of its 
publication. It is their w r ish that I should say 
what I think of it. If I do this, I must say, 
first of all, that it is, in my opinion, a work which 
stands in no need of an endorsement from any 
quarter. 

Without adverting to the lucid and vigorous 
style in which it is written, it is remarkable for 
several characteristics which cannot fail to arrest 
the attention of the thoughtful reader. Among 
these, not the least conspicuous is its compre- 
hensiveness. I can recall no book of moderate 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

size in which a greater number of important 
topics pertaining to personal religion are dis- 
cussed. The wide range of subjects lying be- 
tween such fundamental questions as these, " Is 
there a God?" "What am I?" "Why am I 
placed in this world?" and the sublime con- 
summation of the Christian life, here pass in 
review before the reader. He will find in these 
pages just that kind of information respecting the 
Bible, the necessity of a revelation, its evidences, 
the Canon of Scripture and its paramount au- 
thority, which every reflecting person desires to 
have. The true ends of life, the nature of real 
religion, and the reasonableness of its claims, 
with the perplexities and dangers, the duties and 
privileges, of the believer, are considered in a way 
which cannot fail to impress the candid mind. 

For this book is not more remarkable for the 
extent and variety of its topics, than for the ability 
with which they are discussed. In the first 
sentence of the first chapter we have a key to 
the peculiar style in which the author conducts 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

his argument : — " It has been my privilege to be 
engaged for nearly fifty years in the religious 
instruction of young persons in Sunday-schools, 
and for nearly three-fourths of that time to have 
charge of one or two weekly Bible-classes of 
young ladies." Precisely so. It required just 
such a training in order to write " The Rock." No 
vigour of intellect, no amount of learning, no 
ordinary pastoral experience even, could have 
qualified a man to write this book. It could have 
come only from the pen of one who, endowed 
with ample intellectual and moral gifts, had spent 
a score or two of years in the faithful religious 
instruction of intelligent young persons, carefully 
observing their various tempers and tempera- 
ments, noting the effects of different modes of 
domestic training, watching the diversified im- 
pressions produced upon them by the imperative 
demands of Scripture, analyzing their skeptical 
doubts, recording their cavils and their subter- 
fuges, and employing the resources of a w T ell- 

furnished mind in removing their difficulties and 

1* 



D INTRODUCTION. 

pressing home the truth upon their consciences. 
Regarded in this view, I am quite sure that the 
book will be found a useful study, not merely to 
those for whom it was specially written, but to 
teachers and pastors also. It were well if we 
could all command the skill in casuistic morality, 
which is displayed in these pages. 

To describe this feature of " The Rock" in a 
single sentence, I should say that it has a reality 
about it, which constitutes its highest value. The 
late venerable Dr. Archibald Alexander, of 
Princeton, was accustomed to say that he pre- 
ferred "Jenks' Prayers" to any other collection 
of the kind, because they were evidently "prayers 
which had been prayed!' So with this book. The 
personages introduced are real. The conver- 
sations actually took place. The doubts and fears, 
the cavils and complaints, were all expressed. 
One of the most touching narratives presented 
here (pages 124-131) recalls to my recollection 
a young friend whose death was mourned with a 
true sorrow by many hearts. The author has said 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

very little, where he might have said much, about 
her personal charms and her rare intellectual 
gifts. Nature and grace conspired to form her to 
a mould of singular excellence and loveliness. 
And during the long months of fluctuating health 
which preceded her summons home, she was 
manifestly ripening for her change. No one 
could doubt that she passed from her cross of 
suffering to her crown. 

Perhaps too little notice is taken, in most ser- 
mons and religious books, of the skeptical mis- 
givings and complaints of earnest minds. There 
are many persons, many young persons even, 
whose bosoms are filled with murmurs, 

"Unutter'd or express' d," 

against the Deity. They feel that their lot is a 
hard one; that the Creator ought not to have 
placed them in such a world with such a nature ; 
and that if they perish, it will not be their fault. 
These persons have not been forgotten by the 
author. The candour and ability with which he 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

has considered their difficulties will commend to 
them his wise and faithful counsels. 

Again, young Christians are frequently per- 
plexed with questions of duty respecting books, 
amusements, methods of doing good, and other 
practical matters. The author's knowledge of 
the world, and large experience, have made him a 
competent teacher on these points, and they will 
have reason to thank him for his suggestions. 

But it is not necessary to extend this Intro- 
duction. If this book is read in the spirit 
in which it has been written, it cannot fail, by 
God's blessing, to lead many persons to the 
" Rock ;" and thus it will have accomplished its 
mission. 

H. A. B. 



THE ROCK! THE ROCK! 



We have an authentic account of a person who was 
afflicted with a very singular calamity. In the midst 
of apparent health, activity and cheerfulness, he would 
suddenly lose all consciousness and fall like one dead. 
In the paroxysm which ensued, he would often reach 
out his arms convulsively, as if feeling for something 
which he could not see. As soon as the spasm had 
passed, his eyes were opened slowly and fixed intently 
on the ceiling, as if he would pierce it and the sky be- 
yond it. When consciousness was fully restored, he 
would always ask to have the sixty-first Psalm read to 
him :- — 

"Hear my cry, God; attend unto my prayer: 
From the end of the earth I will cry unto thee. 
When my heart is overwhelmed, 
Lead me to the Eock that is higher than I." 

" Stop there ! stop there I" he would exclaim, and 
then, clasping his hands, repeat, with solemn earnest- 
ness, — 

" Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I." 

9 



10 the rock! the rock! 

"When a favourable opportunity occurred/' says an 
intimate friend, "I drew from him the following brief 
story. 

"It was his privilege to have the example and teach- 
ings of a godly mother, who used to make him read to 
her, every morning, from the Bible; and she was ac- 
customed to select, from the passage read, one verse, to 
be his motto for the day. He was naturally very pas- 
sionate, and one morning was betrayed into a violent 
fit of temper. His mother called him, and he very sul- 
lenly obeyed, when she took his two little hands in 
hers, and with inexpressible tenderness and affection 
said, — 

" ' My dear son, this is your text for the day : — " Lead 
me to the Eock that is higher than I." You have 
been very wicked in the indulgence of such a temper. 
You have grieved me, and (what is much worse) you 
have sinned against God, who has kindly given you all 
you enjoy. You know you always feel sorry after 
these wicked fits of ill temper, and you have often pro- 
mised to amend, but you have as often failed to do so. 
It is high time you were convinced that your unaided 
efforts will not avail, and you well know there is one 
who will give you all the help you need. Jesus, who 
was once a child like yourself, was tempted as you are; 
but he did not sin, and he is able to succour all who are 
tempted. He is the Hock spoken of in your daily text. 



the rock! the rock! 11 

And now, whenever you feel these sinful tempers rising 
in your heart, let that short prayer fill your heart and 
go up from honest lips: — "Lead me to the Bock that 
is higher than I" Never ^est till you feel yourself 
firmly fastened there. 

"They then kneeled together, her arm clasping his 
waist, and with great fervour she commended him to 
God's grace and protection. Her words, and even the 
tones of her voice, were indelibly impressed on his 
memory. 

" Not long afterwards his mother died ; and so strongly 
was his perverse will allied to a licentious world that he 
again indulged in folly and sin ; but when sober sense 
and reason were ail-but discarded and the faithful 
voice of conscience ail-but silenced, these very words, 
1 Lead me to the Eock that is higher than 1/ rushed 
upon his memory and revived a sense of his guilt and 
infatuation. At length they became as the hand- 
writing upon the palace-wall; and when temptation as- 
sailed him, the remembrance of them, instead of calming 
and soothing his perturbed and desponding spirit, filled 
him with inexpressible terror and awe. . The thought 
that he had hardened his heart against the tender 
remonstrances of his blessed mother and refused to 
submit himself to the guidance of his heavenly Friend 
overwhelmed him with pungent sorrow, which the 
Spirit of God ripened into true penitence. He con- 



12 THE rock! the rock! 

secrated himself to the service of his gracious Ke- 
deemer ; but his conflicts with the tempter were at times 
terrific, subjecting his bodily frame to a severe shock; 
and when the fearful struggle came upon him, as it 
did at intervals in the way described, and completely 
prostrated his nervous system, he instinctively reached 
forth to lay hold of ' the higher Bock/ where, and 
where only, he found safety and peace." 

It is the humble hope of persuading some vexed and 
troubled soul to feel for that Rock until it is found, 
that prompts the preparation of this volume. 



CHAPTER I. 

What Christianity is — Relations of every human being to this 
world and the next — The Bible: whence is it, and what is its 
authority? — Epitome of its doctrines — As a rule of faith — Is it 
reliable? — General proofs — What ends it ansivers — Its pecu- 
liarities — Moral qualifications needful in judging of its claims to 
our faith. 

It has been my privilege to be engaged for 
nearly fifty years in the religious instruction of 
young persons in Sunday-schools ; and for nearly 
three-fourths of that time to have charge of one or 
two weekly Bible-classes of young ladies. These 
opportunities to become acquainted with the 
modes of thinking, or the reasons for not think- 
ing, on religious subjects, which prevail in such 
circles, have been very favourable. The educated, 
refined and intelligent, the daughters of luxury, 
affluence and fashion, have been among my most 

interesting and (not unfrequently) my most trac- 

2 13 



14 PLEASANT ASSOCIATIONS. 

table pupils. And, on the other hand, there are 
few, if any, more degraded and hopeless in moral 
or social condition than many hundreds of those 
to whom I have attempted to impart an element- 
ary knowledge of revealed truth. 

Between these extremes of external condition 
I have found, of course, a large variety of habits, 
capacities, dispositions and susceptibilities; but 
in none of them have I discovered that settled 
repugnance to the whole subject of religion which 
I have often found in adult minds. So that in 
this attempt further to aid my young friends " to 
seek the Lord, if haply they may feel after him 
and find him, though he is not far from every one 
of us," I persuade myself that I already have their 
sympathies; and with this confidence I connect 
the hope that I may be instrumental in making 
the path of duty and happiness plain before them. 

It is pleasant to enter a cheerful, well-lighted 
apartment in the quiet hour of a Sunday evening 
and see a group of intelligent girls, full of life and 
hope, and not indisposed to listen to whatever may 
be appropriately and seasonably said to them. 
All the associations of the place and time invite 



SYMPATHY. 15 

to thoughtfulness. It is not merely as a teacher 
that I have been accustomed to mingle in such a 
group, but as a friend who feels with them that 
the world is very beautiful and its promises very 
fair. I am a partaker of their joy, though I may 
not have the flush and buoyancy of earlier days. 
I can share in their bright visions of the future, 
though I know how many of them wdll prove de- 
lusive. I can anticipate their sad disappointments, 
while my predominant desire is that they may 
attain to the full measure of happiness of which 
their nature is susceptible. Nor have I any 
monkish, morbid views of life, its pleasures or 
pursuits. If Christianity — that is, the religion of 
Christ — does not cheer the spirits, sustain the 
hopes, give courage to the hearts and vigour to 
the minds of men, its promise is not redeemed. 
Its professed office, in the striking language of 
Oriental imagery, is " to preach good tidings unto 
the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to pro- 
claim liberty to the captives, and the opening of 
the prison to them that are bound, to comfort all 
that mourn, to give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy 
for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit 
of heaviness." 



16 CONSCIOUS WANTS. 

That there should exist in any intelligent mind 
a positive aversion to the whole subject of re- 
ligious faith and duty, which, in some form, in- 
terests every human being, can be explained only 
upon the hypothesis that the moral perception 
has been obscured ' or perverted, so that darkness 
is put for light and light for darkness. We say 
" every human being;" for, except in those who 
are destitute of the natural faculties of men, there 
must needs be a consciousness, more or less dis- 
tinct, of an immaterial nature ; and for the wants 
of that nature, a moment's reflection must con- 
vince. us, something is required which the material 
world cannot supply. 

That I am a living being is a matter of con- 
sciousness. I did not create myself. My life is 
a gift. I am allowed to live. Whether such a 
being should ever have a place here at all, no one 
could have told one hundred years ago, unless it 
were supernaturally revealed to him. The Creator 
must be greater and wiser than the creature. He 
that build ed the house hath more honour than the 
house. I was made for some end. The involun- 
tary exercises of my mind and the emotions of 
my heart; my passions of love and fear and joy 



CONDITIONS OF OUR BEING. 17 

and hope and anger, are part of myself. I can 
think with pain or pleasure upon what I heard or 
did or saw yesterday, last week, or years ago; 
and though I know not what shall be on the mor- 
row, yet my plans are formed for days and weeks 
to come, and I anticipate with pain or pleasure 
what (if it occurs at all) may not occur for 
months or years. 

What is my condition here ? I am not an iso- 
lated creature. I am surrounded with beings like 
myself, — creatures of God, passing through life 
as across a stage and disappearing by thousands 
upon thousands every day. Surely it cannot be 

" all an empty show, 
For man's illusion given." 

I cannot be blind to the evidences of the power, 
wisdom and love of God in my own frame and 
faculties and the stupendous works of his hands 
which stand out above, beneath and around me. 
In the right use of his gifts, I am capable of 
exquisite but not unmingled enjoyment; while the 
abuse of them brings with it intense and various 
pain. And, moreover, with all these tokens of 
divine benevolence that meet my eye, there are 
evidences of a blight and a curse. Labour and 

B 2* 



18 THE GRAVEST OF QUESTIONS. 

toil, sickness, sorrow and death, chagrin, disap- 
pointment and despair, discontent and poverty, 
crime and wretchedness, are spread all over the 
earth. If I ask the cause of this, I am told it is 
sin, and that I am infected with it, as are all my 
fellow-creatures. One trait can be stereotyped as 
part of the biography of every child of Adam : — 
He was a sinner.* A moment's reflection upon 
my own motives and conduct convinces me that 
it is so. The quick perception of right and wrong, 
of which I am conscious, presupposes a law which 
is given by my Creator to be a rule of my life ; 
and sin is a transgression of this law. 

What are the consequences of transgressing a 
divine law ? One consequence is present dis- 
quiet and fear; and this starts that gravest of all 
questions of universal interest and universal ap- 
propriateness, How shall man be just with God ? 

In our intercourse with our fellow-men, this 
question often occasions the deepest solicitude. 
He who has been betrayed into some violation of 
law, for which reparation must be made by fine or 
imprisonment, asks, with inexpressible emotion, 
How shall I meet the requirement? 

** Dr. Chalmers. 



THE FUTURE. 19 

The debtor is harassed by the constant thought 
of his creditor's power over him and by the con- 
tinual anxiety lest his means of payment should 
prove inadequate. 

What is before me ? The only certain thing is 
death. If I live another hour or day, it must be 
by some power above and independent of myself. 
I can end my present life instantly, but I cannot 
prolong it a single moment. If I live, life must 
be a ceaseless conflict with the evil inclinations of 
my heart and with the outward temptations of 
the world. Many joys may attend my path; but, 
like the impatient prophet's gourd, they may grow 
up and wither in the same night. 

And is such a life a gift of love? Yes, of in- 
finite love. . But not if we leave out of view its 
relations to another and a better. 

" Were it the whole of life to live, 
Or all of death to die," 

human existence would be not only a mystery, 
but a mockery and curse. What gives our pre- 
sent transient being its incomprehensible value 
and interest, is that, if wisely improved, it in- 
troduces us to our true life, — our immortality; 



20 * THE BIBLE. 

and it is the anticipation of this true life that 
mitigates the sorrows, purifies the joys and 
brightens the hopes of our brief pilgrimage here ; 

" Beyond this vale of tears 
There is a life above, 
Unmeasured by the flight of years ; 
And all that life is love." 

What knowledge have we of such a life, and 
whence is it derived? Which is the way to it, 
and what do we need to prepare us for its enjoy- 
ment? 

We have in our hands a familiar volume, which 
Ave call the Bible, and this is said to be a revelation 
from God, and to contain all that we need to know 
respecting his character, laws and government as 
well as concerning our own condition and destiny. 
We are, however, told of other sacred books and 
pretended revelations. There are the Shasters, or 
divine books of the Brahminical religion, whose 
disciples embrace more than an eighth part of the 
human family. These books reveal three times 
as many objects of worship as there are worship- 
pers ! There is Buddhism, " the number of whose 
votaries far exceeds that of any other religious 
system on the globe, though it places its disciples 



AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE. 21 

in the marvellous position of worshipping an ex- 
tinct being!"* There is the Koran, or the Bible 
of the Mohammedans, containing exactly three 
hundred and twenty-three thousand and fifteen 
letters, which is received as of divine origin by 
about one-sixth of our fellow-men. Then there 
are the Jews, who hold to the divine authority of 
the Old Testament, but reject the New; while 
the believers of the Greek and Papal churches, 
embracing more than another sixth part of the 
world, receive the Scriptures as of divine origin 
and authority, but receive, as of equal authority, 
the interpretation which "the church" (meaning 
their church) puts upon them. Indeed, apart from 
such interpretation, they regard the sacred oracles 
as a source of error and confusion. 

It is the popular impression that Protestants 
generally hold the Scriptures to be of themselves 
the only and the sufficient rule of faith and practice, 
so that " whatsoever is not read therein nor may 
be proved thereby is not to be required of any man 
that it should be believed as an article of faith, or 
be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." 

* Princeton Review, July, 1859. 



22 RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 

It may be doubted, however, whether the faith 
of any person rests exclusively on his own original 
conceptions of what is taught in Holy Scripture. 
A religious doctrine is announced and advocated, 
and the attempt is made to show its consonance 
to divine revelation. The disciple is referred to 
that acknowledged standard of truth, and resorts 
to it to determine whether the new doctrine is 
"read therein or may be proved thereby." He is 
supposed to accept or reject it according to the 
response of this sacred oracle. But how many 
influences, too subtle for analysis, may have per- 
verted his apprehension or warped his judgment! 
It may be that education, social relations, or for- 
tuitous circumstances of residence and association 
have given a strong bias to the mind before the 
appeal is made to the acknowledged standard. 

It cannot be denied that those who are supposed 
to have formed their religious opinions under the 
teachings of Holy Scripture do greatly differ in 
what they believe and teach ; and hence the almost 
endless diversity of creeds, denominations, sects 
and schools. But a close examination will show 
that in a very large majority of cases these differ- 
ences relate to points not involving human salvation. 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 23 

We know of no Protestant communion that denies 
the possibility of salvation out of its pale; and 
ninety-nine hundredths of the real and nominal 
disciples of Christ would readily agree that what 
is familiarly known as the Apostles' Creed contains 
the essential doctrines of Christian faith. Be- 
yond this they would not insist upon any belief 
as necessary or requisite to salvation. Less than 
this would not be consistent with submission to 
the Scriptures as a rule of faith. 

Some are disposed to plead the diversities of 
sects as an excuse for keeping themselves aloof 
from a connection with any of them; and they 
even go so far as to call in question the genuine- 
ness of religion itself, because its disciples differ 
so widely in respect to its doctrines. But they 
forget that each of these systems of faith is nothing 
more than the expression of an opinion as to what 
the Scriptures teach, and upon us is laid the obli- 
gation to "search the Scriptures, to see if these 
things are so." In a free country like our's there 
are different political parties, and the views of 
public policy which distinguish them, one from the 
other, are investigated by intelligent citizens, and 
as their opinions coincide with or differ from this 



24 AUTHORITATIVE STANDARDS. 

or that party or school, so they enrol themselves 
among its advocates or opponents. 

But there are remarkable differences in the two 
cases. The instrument by which, under a govern- 
ment like our's, the right or wrong of public mea- 
sures is determined, is of human origin, and of 
course imperfect. It was formed in ignorance of 
what time might effect in the condition and circum- 
stances of the people. And, besides, the conse- 
quences of the most erroneous interpretation of its 
essential principles cannot reach beyond the bounds 
of time. It is therefore of little moment, compa- 
ratively, to what party one is attached, if he dis- 
charges the duties of a good citizen. And yet 
there are few persons who have not more sympathy 
with one party than with another. 

In the religious world we claim to have an instru- 
ment of divine origin by which to determine what 
is right and wrong in opinion and practice. It was 
formed with the most perfect knowledge of all pos- 
sible contingencies and all possible conditions of 
those who should live under it. To misinterpret an 
essential principle of it involves fearful hazards for 
this world and the next; and not to recognise it as 
a guide and rule of life is to prefer darkness to light. 



THE CHURCH. 25 

Instead, therefore, of rejecting the oracles of divine 
truth because their responses are variously con- 
strued by those who profess to rely on them, we 
should give the more earnest heed to them, in order 
that our own views may be governed by them. 
And when, with the best light we can obtain, these 
views are definitely settled, we should join our- 
selves to those whose conclusions correspond most 
nearly with our own. . 

As already intimated, there are some who main- 
tain that, from ignorance or incompetency, people 
in general cannot be expected, of themselves, to 
form correct opinions of the teachings of the in- 
spired volume ; and hence (says one) " the church, 
in various ages, has given them an interpretation 
which is to be received as of binding authority." 
This claim may perhaps present a question of pre- 
cedence. Much of what we receive as a divine 
revelation relates to the foundation and progress 
of "the church of the living God, the pillar and 
ground (stay) of the truth," and to the means of 
extending the kingdom of its founder and supreme 
head to the ends of ^ the earth. We may not 
be able to fix the d£te or describe the constituents 
of the earliest community which could properly 



26 PRIVATE INTERPRETATION. 

be called a church. But from the earliest existence 
of such an institution under the gospel dispensa- 
tion there is a contemporaneous declaration of the 
divine will, directing its offices and ordinances 
with minute particularity ; and a divine authority, 
in the person of its founder, to oversee and conduct 
its administration. His personal teaching and 
example were enjoyed by his immediate apostles; 
and, after them, at no subsequent period could any 
judgment have been formed which should have any 
authority except that which a concurrence of opi- 
nion on a given question among a body of fallible 
men (large or small) is supposed to carry. Each of 
them has an individual judgment, founded on evi- 
dence presented to his own mind; and their deter- 
mination of any question, whether expressed in the 
form of a law, a decree, or a creed, is but an aggre- 
gate of private opinions. So that we are thrown 
back upon the right and duty of every human being 
who has the opportunity and means to examine 
the records of divine truth and draw from them 
precepts, doctrines and promises for the govern- 
ment of his own life and the foundation of his own 
hopes. 

"The possibility — nay, the probability — of a 



AN INQUIRY. 27 

divine revelation is one of the first and simplest in- 
stincts of reason." True philosophy inquires if there 
is any positive declaration of the will of the Al- 
mighty; and, finding what claims to be such, it is 
received and obeyed, and leads the humble disciple 
up to its divine and incomprehensible Author. 
There are various systems of false philosophy, 
all resting on certain conceptions of the Supreme 
Being supposed to be consistent with reason; and 
thence are inferred the attributes of a divine 
character and a scheme of divine government. 

" Has the Almighty given any messages to his 
creatures ? If so, how can we know them from all 
delusions and counterfeits ? Not by their agree- 
ment with perfect goodness and infinite wisdom; 
for this is a standard beyond our reach. If we 
knew perfect goodness and infinite wisdom, a re- 
velation would be superfluous. Is the message 
or messenger accompanied by such tokens of divine 
wisdom, power and goodness as could not be de- 
rived from mere natural means at the time, and 
could not proceed from an unseen power of evil ?" 

Perhaps you are surprised that I should raise 
any inquiry among persons educated, as you have 
been, under Christian influences, as to the credi- 



28 NEGATIVE FAULT. 

bility of Holy Scripture. But I fear it may be 
much more pertinent than you suppose. There are 
multitudes of persons in your position whose faith is 
purely negative. They do not deny the^ truth, nor 
do they embrace it. There is a superficial impres- 
sion that to be a Christian is very right and proper, 
if persons are inclined that way. But no personal, 
inexorable obligation to submit to the claims of the 
gospel is recognised, or even considered. 

"What religion has to fear is not the most 
searching criticism of the contents of Scripture, 
not any fundamental inquiry into the laws of 
physical phenomena, not the fullest examination 
of every vestige upon the field of nature left by 
the footsteps of time."* The supposed discrepan- 
cies between the theories of philosophy and spe- 
culation and the Scripture account of the creation, 
of the unity of the race and of the diversity of 
tongues, have been found to have no real exist- 
ence. Whenever science has vaunted itself upon 
some new discovery which seems to involve the 
credibility of sacred history, it has so turned out 
that another step in advance or in some other 

* "The Inspiration of Holy Scripture, its Nature and Proof," 
by William Lee, D.D., London, 1857, p. 421, 



TRUE DANGER. 29 

direction has furnished new evidence from itself to 
confirm or elucidate the inspired record. " Hence 
the true source of alarm is the danger to their 
faith which those persons must encounter who 
content themselves with superficial information or 
partial knowledge."* 

The other day, two young ladies were con- 
versing about some work of Carlyle, which one 
of them was persuading the other to read. The 
admirer of this erratic speculator took occasion to 
utter some bitter maledictions upon one of his re- 
viewers, — whereupon her companion (who was a 
Roman Catholic) reproved her, at the same time 
quoting the passage, " Vengeance is mine," &c. 
To the inquiry where that came from, it was an- 
swered, "From the Bible;" and she then very flip- 
pantly asked, "Do you believe the Bible? for I'm 
sure I don't." The Catholic lady replied, " Cer- 
tainly I do. I believe it is inspired by God and 
contains what can make us wise unto salvation." 
Here was an educated Protestant unbeliever re- 
buked by a disciple of what we justly regard as 
one of the most corrupt forms of Christianity! 



Ibid. 



30 ANCIENT WRITINGS. 

And I have recently seen it stated, in a connection 
of no mean authority, that "a majority of the in- 
telligent laity of England, at this day, do not yield 
allegiance to any writings simply on their claims 
to supernatural origin." And even where Holy 
Scripture is received as a divine revelation, 
" truths of all others most awful and interesting 
are too often considered as so true that they lose 
all the power of truth, and lie, bed-ridden, in the 
dormitory of the soul, side by side with the most 
despised and exploded errors." 

We have before us, then, a collection of ancient 
writings claiming to be a revelation from God, 
and we are to ascertain, so far as we can, on what 
this claim rests. That they are very ancient 
writings is unquestionable. They were the sacred 
books of the Jews from the earliest period of their 
history. The accounts they contain of men and 
events are corroborated by evidence which has 
never been successfully impeached. That evidence 
is written (says one) over the rocks and mountains, 
the deserts and plains, of Judea. The boldest 
skeptics charge upon believers in the Bible no de- 
gree of credulity SO absurd as that of a man who 
could travel through the sacred land with the Bible 



CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE. 31 

as his guide-book and believe that it is not a true 
record of men and things as they were. 

A work has recently been published the de- 
sign of which is to show that the popular histories 
of the Mexican conquest and of the exploits of 
Cortez and the native armies are not reliable, and 
that the chronicles on which these historical records 
are founded are entirely fabulous. Among the 
evidences of their fictitiousness is the fact, ascer- 
tained from personal observation of the localities, 
that such feats were simply impossible under the 
circumstances in which they are said to have been 
performed. The face of the country, it is said, 
presents none of the features which the supposed 
incidents require. Now, the journeyings of the 
children of Israel are minutely described by the 
sacred historian, — the places where they halted, 
the wells and brooks they passed, and the plains 
and deserts which they traversed. Among the 
most memorable events in that journey of forty 
years was the encampment at Sinai, the geogra- 
phical features of which are distinctly described 
by the inspired historian. And it is the express 
testimony of one of the most intelligent and dis- 
criminating of modern travellers, not only that 



32 GUARDS TO THE TEXT. 

there is no discrepancy between the incidents of the 
sacred narrative and the natural aspect of the spot 
where they occurred, but that in no other quarter 
of the peninsula is there a place corresponding in 
any degree so fully to the historical account and 
to the circumstances of the case. Here lay a 
plain broad enough to receive the mighty host of 
Israel, and here was a mountain from whence 
alone the lightnings and the thick cloud would be 
visible to such a multitude and the thunders and 
the voice of a trumpet be heard by them, when the 
Lord came down in the sight of all the people, upon 
Mount Sinai.* 

The writings to which successive generations of 
the Jews gave heed as of divine authority were 
constantly read in their synagogue. It was the 
office of a particular class of men to study them and 
to preserve their integrity and purity. From the 
time of the dismemberment of the Jewish kingdom, 
which occurred early in the reign of Rehoboam, there 
have been extant two independent copies of the five 
books of Moses, — one in possession of the Jews. 
and the other in possession of the Samaritans ; and, 



x " Robinson's Researches, vol. i. pp. L58, L76. 



INFERENCES. 33 

though critics differ as to the preference in point 
of antiquity, purity, &c., their coexistence in the 
hands of rival and hostile parties must be regarded 
as no ordinary security against corruption. 

And so intimately is the subsequent history of 
the nation associated with institutions and ordi- 
nances, of the nature, origin and design of which 
these books alone give any account, that they 
must stand or fall together. If there were such 
men as Abraham and Joseph, Moses and Aaron, 
there must also have been such men as David 
and Solomon, Isaiah and Daniel. If there were a 
temple, an altar and a sacrifice, there were also an 
Aaron, an Eli and a Samuel. If there were a 
captivity and a restoration of the Jews, there 
must have been a Josiah, an Ezra and a Nehemiah. 
If the Pentateuch is rejected, no ancient writing 
can maintain its claims to credibility. If it is 
admitted as genuine, the other scriptures of the 
Old Testament must be allowed equal credit and 
currency. 

The introduction of the Christian dispensation 
would not tend to relax the vigilance with which 
the Jews guarded their own Scriptures. The 
stated use of them in the synagogues, and the con- 



34 JEWISH SCRIPTURES. 

stant reference to them by the founder and apostles 
of the new faith, as well as by the Jewish scribes 
and doctors of the law in justification of their un- 
belief, attest the authority in which they were 
held. To those who believe in the divine mission 
of Christ, his repeated citation of these scriptures, 
as sacred and authoritative writings, would seem 
to end all controversy. When he was teaching 
in the temple, and replied to the chief priests and 
elders who were disposed to question his authority, 
"Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone 
which the builders rejected, the same is become 
the head of the corner?" he spoke of what was 
familiar to them and of unquestionable authority. 
At a public festival in Jerusalem, when the Jews 
were so incensed against him as to seek his life, 
he directed them to " search the Scriptures ; for," 
said he, " in them ye think ye have eternal life ; 
and they testify of me." And in the same dis- 
course he said, " There is one that accuseth you, 
even Moses, in whom ye trust; for had ye believed 
Moses, ye faould have believed me ; for he wrote of 
me; but if ye believe not his writings, how shall 
ye believe my words?" There can be no doubt 
that "Scriptures" and "writings" in these pass- 



JEWISH SCRIPTURES. 35 

ages referred to well-known and authentic docu- 
ments. 

On another occasion he appeals to his Jewish 
auditory, when greatly excited against him, "Is 
it not written in your law?" &c. The book of 
Psalms is also repeatedly cited as a well-known 
section or collection of these sacred writings ; and 
in the interview which our Saviour had with his 
disciples after his resurrection, he expressly re- 
cognises the division of them into the three de- 
partments of the law, the prophets and the Psalms ; 
and then " opened he their understandings, that 
they might understand the Scriptures." 

When Paul was in. Thessalonica he went into a 
synagogue of the Jews and " reasoned with them 
out of the Scriptures." Apollos, who was him- 
self " mighty in the Scriptures," convinced the 
Jews in Achaia, " publicly showing by the Scrip- 
tures that Jesus was the Christ ;" and in the nar- 
rative of the interview between Philip and the 
Ethiopian eunuch we have specific reference to a 
particular passage of the sacred writings, and 
"the place" or "passage" which he read is cited 
by the historian, and is found in the fifty-third 
chapter of Isaiah. So that it may be truly said 



36 CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. 

not only that the Pentateuch, as a whole, but the 
entire Old Testament, " was alive in the minds of 
the Jewish people when the new covenant was 
revealed." 

Is there any room for doubt, then, that the truth 
and authority of so much of the book before us as 
we call the Old Testament received the fullest 
attestation from Christ and his apostles ? 

We now turn to the other portion, which we 
call the New Testament and which is the founda- 
tion of the Christian faith. Is its sufficiency for 
such a reliance indisputable ? 

In the first place, if it is not reliable, the argu- 
ment which we have derived from it in support 
of the Old Testament has, of course, no validity. 
Yet it must be admitted that as a supplement to 
the Jewish Scriptures it is surprisingly natural 
and complete. The entire volume of these Scrip- 
tures had been in the hands of the Jews for nearly 
five hundred years when Christ appeared. The 
historical and prophetic records which they contain 
were the subject of earnest inquiry and diligent 
study. Every thing in the civil and social condition 
of the nation concurred to excite expectations of 
some great event at or near the period of Christ's 



Christ's appearance. 37 

advent. The devout servants of God were waiting 
in faith for the " consolation of Israel/' while the na- 
tion at large were looking for a prince who should 
deliver them from political subjection and restore to 
them the power and grandeur of their golden age. 
To human view, nothing could be more unsuited 
to such a state of the public mind than the birth 
of Jesus of Nazareth. If the object had been to 
excite the bitterest prejudices of the Jewish mind 
and the most relentless hostility of the Jewish 
people towards the new dispensation, it would 
have been scarcely possible to do it more effec- 
tually than by giving such a nativity to the pro- 
mised and expected Messiah. Instead of pre- 
paring them by some intermediate, semi-ritualistic 
ordinances to part with the temple, the altar and the 
priesthood, and with them to yield their national 
distinction and glory, and accept in their place a 
purely spiritual dispensation, the benefits of which 
all the rest of the world would share as freely as 
themselves, the infant Jesus was presented to 
them as the incarnate Son of the eternal God; 
a babe in the manger at Bethlehem was revealed 
as "the light that was to lighten the Gentiles, and 
the glory of the people of Israel/' 



38 THE LOCK AND KEY. 

Contrary as all this was to their expectations 
and prejudices, no other manner of revelation 
would fulfil what was written in their Scriptures 
concerning him. No sooner did he commence his 
public ministry than his countrymen, with one 
consent, opposed him. They denied his authority 
as a public teacher; charged him with being in 
league with the prince of devils; heaped re- 
proaches and insults upon him for the space of 
three years, and then, with a malignant cruelty 
aggravated by the form of arraignment and trial, 
they laid violent hands on him and put him to an 
ignominious death. All this was in literal accord- 
ance with the sure word of prophecy, and might 
have been found written, with almost historical 
accuracy, in their Scriptures many hundred years 
before the event. 

If we should find an ingenious lock, with 
numerous complicated wards, in one place, and 
afterwards a key in another and distant place 
which exactly fitted it and would fit no other, we 
might reasonably conclude not only that the key 
was made for that lock or for one exactly like it, 
but that, if both were not made by the same man, 
the latter could not have been made without a 



AN ILLUSTRATION. 39 

knowledge of the former. The Old Testament 
without the New would be a lock without a key, 
the one being a necessary complement to the 
other. " Genesis is the legitimate preface to the 
law T ; the law is the natural introduction to the 
succeeding books of the Old Testament, and the 
whole is a proper and indispensable prelude to 
the gospel dispensation. What the four Gospels 
are to the New Testament, the five books of 
Moses are to the Old."* 

But we have other grounds on which to main- 
tain our position. 

Suppose a life of Solon — who, as we know, lived 
six hundred years before the birth of Christ — was 
in our hands, together with a life of Socrates, who 
lived two hundred years later. The authenticity 
of the latter is admitted, but some doubt exists as 
to the former. Upon examining the latter, we 
find frequent references to a life of Solon extant 
when it was written, and one passage which is 
quoted word for word from it. Would not such 
a discovery remove all doubt that such a life of 
Solon was in existence when the life of Socrates 
was written? 

* Ayerst's Prize Essa} 7 . 



40 EARLY TESTIMONY. 

Two or more of the writings which we call the 
Gospels were written within thirty years after the 
ascension of Christ. Thousands of people were living 
during that interval, and for years afterwards, who 
were familiar with the persons, places and inci- 
dents which they record. Has there been a tittle 
of reliable evidence from any source, or a single 
credible witness from any of the towns, cities and 
villages in which the Redeemer lived, preached, 
and wrought his miracles of mercy, to invalidate 
their claim to implicit faith? Not one. 

It is supposed that both Ignatius and Polycarp 
had personal acquaintance and intercourse with 
some of the apostles. The former of these holy 
martyrs, who suffered a.d. 107, refers to the Gos- 
pels in terms which imply not only their being 
published at that time, but their being regarded 
as a true record of the sayings and doings of 
Christ. "In order to understand the will of God," 
.he says, a flee to the Gospels, which I believe not 
less than if Christ had been speaking to me." Be- 
fore the middle of the second century, while the 
immediate descendants of the actors in these 
scenes and the authors of these writings were 
living, the books were collected into a volume, and 



JEWISH PREJUDICE. 41 

were generally received as an infallible directory of 
faith and duty by the adherents of the new doctrine. 
And so controlling was their faith in them, that 
the most terrific forms of torture and death which 
the malice of their persecutors could invent, 
seemed only to give new emphasis and earnest- 
ness to their testimony. 

During the eighteen intervening centuries the 
Jews as a people have rejected the claims of Jesus 
to be their Messiah, and of course they regard the 
gospel history as unworthy of credit. They have 
no knowledge of the counsels of God as they are 
revealed in the person and offices of Jesus Christ. 
They cling to a dispensation of types and shadows 
which was merely introductory to a better cove- 
nant established upon better promises. Like the 
fond child, who in the delirium of its grief throws 
itself on the cold and senseless body of its dead 
mother, they cleave to Moses and the prophets 
and, with a judicial infatuation, deny Him "of 
whom Moses and the prophets did write." But 
never have they successfully impeached the vera- 
city of the New Testament history. Never have 
they impaired in the slightest degree their claim 
to be received as of divine authority. And who 



42 JEWISH SILENCE. 

could assail them with any hope of success if they 
could not ? The other portion of the volume of 
evidence originally committed to their custody is 
still in their hands. The parties and incidents 
most prominent in the history are interwoven with 
the civil, social and ecclesiastical annals of their 
nation. The scenes described take their character 
and hue from the mountains and vales and lakes 
with which they are most familiar. The wit- 
nesses., advocates and propagators of the new 
faith were taken from among their own people, — 
and some of them of no mean condition and repu- 
tation : surely they have ample opportunity and 
means to detect and expose any surreptitious 
claims. But they are silent. As in many things 
during the incarnation of the Messiah they unde- 
signedly and unconsciously fulfilled their own 
Scriptures, so in their pertinacious rejection of 
him they only confirm and exemplify what their 
own prophets have declared concerning him. And 
in the fulness of time their return to the Shep- 
herd and Bishop of their souls will, in like 
manner, illustrate the truth and magnify the grace 
of the gospel. 

It is not denied that for at least fifteen hun- 



ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS. 43 

dred years the New Testament in its present form 
has been received by Christians and recognised as 
of divine authority in public and private. It has 
been the umpire to which questions of faith and 
duty have been referred, and its decisions have 
been the end of all controversy. Whatever doubts 
may have existed at an earlier period in the minds 
of friends or foes respecting the claim of the col- 
lection, or any portion of it, to be a revelation from 
God, they must have been dissipated ; for, without 
question, the collection, as a whole, rests on a far 
firmer historical foundation, and is more com- 
pletely accredited and sustained by internal and 
external proofs, than other works of antiquity 
which all the world regards as genuine. 

A recent examination of Persian, Syrian, Greek 
and other monasteries, made* under authority of 
the imperial government of Russia, has brought 
to light several manuscripts of various dates from 
the fifth to the tenth century, containing indubit- 
able evidence of the existence and authority of 
the sacred writings, and that they were then an- 
cient records. Among these invaluable treasures 
is a Greek MS. of the Bible, discovered in a mo- 

* By Prof. Teschendorf. 



44 ANCIENT MA Xu SCRIPTS. 

nastery at Mount Sinai, supposed to be the oldest 
in existence. The Old Testament is in the same 
text as that used by the apostles in their quota- 
tions, and the New Testament is complete. The 
date of the MS. is supposed to be at or near the 
commencement of the fourth century, probably 
in the time of Constantine the Great. " These 
writings," says one, "are drawn from the grave 
of ages as living witnesses to the present genera- 
tion of the inspired authority of the apostolical 
Scriptures. Sacred treasures they are, which in 
secure repose at the foot of the Mount of Moses 
have survived, as by a miracle of Providence, 
through all the storms of the tumultuous centu- 
ries of the past." 

It is not needful to inquire particularly into 
the claims of each book of the New Testament. 
Suffice it to say that the general evidence of the 
truth of the apostolic acts and epistles is of the 
same character and of equal force with that which 
is adduced in support of the gospel history. 

Before we leave this topic, it may be well to 
reflect for a moment how much depends on the ge- 
nuineness of the sacred writings. We can scarcely 
conceive of a condition more forlorn than that of 



A CONSCIOUS WANT. 45 

a child who has fallen asleep in a boat, with- 
out oars or rudder, which by some oversight has 
become loose and drifted far out to sea. Awaking, 
the helpless little navigator finds his frail craft 
tossed hither and thither by the wild waves and 
threatened with destruction. If a vessel were to 
heave in sight, he has no means of signalizing her. 
If he knew which way to steer to reach some 
shore, he has nothing with which to propel the 
boat or direct its course. He can only gaze 
vacantly and despairingly upon the boundless 
expanse and fathomless abyss of waters, and re- 
sign himself to a seemingly hopeless destiny. 

But inconceivably more forlorn is the condition 
of a human being in the absence of a revelation of 
God's will. With overwhelming evidences of the 
existence of an infinite and intelligent Creator, he 
is conscious of desires and capacities that elevate 
him above all orders of creatures about him. 
Endowed with the faculty to discern between 
right and wrong, he cannot fail to connect with it 
the idea of a lawgiver and a judge. Not more 
eagerly does the hart pant for the water-brook 
than the human soul craves some portion suited 
to its superior nature ; and such a portion it seeks 



46 A LIFE TO COME. 

in vain within itself or within the bounds of time 
and sense. Not a nation, people or tribe has ever 
yet been found in whose rites and superstitions 
there was not some trace of faith in a life to come. 
It is as universally characteristic of man as an 
erect posture or the power of articulation. Sys- 
tems of philosophy assert the desire, the hope and 
even the probability of a future ; but in what vain 
and vague speculations do they indulge till, by the 
light of a divine revelation, something is learned 
of the nature and attributes of God; the principles 
of his moral government; the relations of the 
human family under it; the wonders of his provi- 
dence and grace, and the retributions of the world 
to come! 

If there is one particular in which the intelli- 
gence of the divine Author of all things is more 
conspicuous to human view than in any other, it is 
the perfect adaptation of the nature of each order 
of creatures to its condition and circumstances. 
The camel is found where he is wanted and 
where he can live. Birds of the air are not 
web-footed, nor do the fishes of the sea have 
wings and feathers. The powers and passions of 
the human soul an* adapted to an immaterial, im- 



FRUITS OF THE BIBLE. 47 

mortal existence ; and it would be contrary to all 
the laws of analogy if it were not so. And yet 
in what almost total darkness woulji this mys- 
terious future of our being be wrapped were it 
not for the disclosures which this book makes! 
Life and immortality are brought to light in the 
gospel. The great problems of human apostasy 
and redemption are here solved. The only hope 
and help of a sinner are revealed in the doing and 
the dying of the Son of God; death and the 
grave are divested of their terrific power; the 
flaming sword is withdrawn from the entrance to 
paradise, and its gates are re-opened to every son 
and daughter of Adam who will penitently accept 
a gratuitous pardon. Let this light that shines 
in our darkness be extinguished; let Holy Scrip- 
tures prove to be a cunningly-devised fable, and 
we should sink at once into the absurdities and 
cruelties of the grossest pagan superstition. 

Limited and imperfect as is the direct influence 
of the Bible in our world, it is, nevertheless, the 
essential element of all civilization and progress. 
It has not caused wars and fightings wholly to 
cease, nor has it put a full end to selfishness, fraud 
and oppression; but, were its influence to be en- 



48 VALUE OF THE BIBLE. 

tirely withdrawn for a single generation, there is 
not a civil, social or domestic relation that would 
escape the blight. The principles of our faith, 
derived from Holy Scripture, are interwoven with 
the very structure of society; and even where 
they are weakened and corrupted by super- 
stition and formalism, they serve to elevate 
public sentiment, to restrain outbreaking wicked- 
ness and to keep the social fabric from falling into 
ruin. 

These sacred pages explain some of the deepest 
mysteries in the history and condition of our race. 
They reveal the source of all the sorrow and suf- 
fering, the want and woe, the sickness and death, 
that fill the world. It is sin. In the light they 
shed upon the works and ways of God, we see 
existence to be an inestimable blessing. The in- 
finite justice and mercy of the divine government 
are brought into perfect harmony. The incarna- 
tion and sacrifice of the Lamb of God, and the 
mission and offices of the Holy Spirit in restoring 
the image of God to the soul and fitting it for his 
blissful presence, are presented to our wondering 
view. The ways of Providence, however inscru- 
table, become luminous to the eye of faith. The 



INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE. 49 

present becomes the narrow, dark vestibule of our 
true life, opening into a temple of which the Lord 
God Almighty and the Lamb are the light, and 
into which " nothing can enter that defileth, or 
worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." 

Were the divine authority of the Bible set aside 
and the hope of immortality which it brings to 
light proved to be baseless, we should have left the 
most extraordinary delusion of which there is 
an}^ account. For what pretended revelation 
can show such an array of unimpeached and un- 
impeachable testimony in favour of a primitive 
faith in its genuineness? What other picture of 
man was ever drawn which displayed a like 
knowledge of his moral and spiritual nature?. 
From what other source have ever flowed such 
gentle, elevating, humanizing influences as that 
living fountain supplies ? What other rules of 
moral right and duty have been revealed which 
are so uniform, so well adapted to mankind in 
their present state and so universally acknow- 
ledged as the basis of all enlightened legislation 
and government ? What system of fabulous or spu- 
rious religion has ever done for any portion of the 
race what the Bible has done for woman alone, — to 



50 ADAPTATION OF THE BIBLE. 

say nothing of the general precepts and duties 
which it inculcates, and which, if properly regarded, 
would make a paradise of earth and an angel of 
man. 

No theory of inspiration, no obscurity in the 
doctrines or language of Holy Scripture, no mys- 
tery of divine Providence, asks so much of our faith 
as he asks who requires us to believe that such a 
book has not a divine origin and authority. 

There are two or three incidental thoughts 
which I may be allowed to introduce in this con- 
nection. 

1. The Bible is marvellously fitted to the needs 
and capacities of the bulk of men. It is a re- 
pository of truth in which such minds as those of 
Lord Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, Jeremy Taylor and 
Sir Matthew Hale, monumental men, standing, it 
may be, centuries apart, and conspicuous among 
many millions, have found inexhaustible treasures. 
But the common walks of life are thickly set with 
the weary and heavy-laden, the sick and suffering, 
the tempted and the fallen. To such this blessed 
volume opens a perennial fountain of hope and joy 
and peace. It supplies strength and courage for 
the conflicts of life. It points the tired pilgrim 



EMPIRE OF FAITH. 51 

to his rest at home. It is emphatically the poor 
man's blessing. 

It has been beautifully said that the empire of 
religious faith is not in cities or courts, nor in the 
strife and bustle of worldly enterprise. " She 
passes by the gates of the proud, and enters, a 
gracious and welcome guest, into the dwellings of 
the humble and poor. She finds ready adherents 
among those whom we may suppose the shepherds 
on the plains of Bethlehem to represent. Christ is 
the desire of the simple heart. His truth answers 
its mysterious questions, solves its perplexities 
and gives meaning to its sublimest aspirations. 
It is recognised and embraced, because it meets 
the holiest desires of the soul. The angels' song 
is no longer heard, and the star which guided the 
wise men has faded from the sky. But the 
divinely-communicated instincts which led the 
shepherds and sages to give heed to heavenly 
manifestations still remain; and, instead of the 
vanished star in that far distance, through all the 
dark experiences of intervening ages shines the 
ever-increasing light of the gospel of Christ." 

2. The Scriptures, even without any living 
preacher, are able to make men wise unto salva- 



52 PORTABILITY OF THE BIBLE. 

tion. In a history of the missionary work in 
Madagascar, we are informed that when the mis- 
sionaries were all driven from the island the native 
converts were without any religious teacher, but 
relied for spiritual guidance on scraps of the 
Bible carried in their memories or about their 
persons. They dared not appear as Christians; 
but, by the silent power of the leaven of truth 
already diffused, their number was increased ten- 
fold in a few years. A still more striking illus- 
tration of the same principle is furnished in the 
history of the mutineers of the ship Bounty. 

3. It is worthy of remark that the Bible is so 
portable a volume. Rich as it is in history, litera- 
ture, geography, poetry, narrative and theology, 
it is for a Sunday-school child to wrap up in his 
tidy handkerchief or the labourer to take with 
him into the field or the -workshop. The statutes 
of England are said to occupy sixty folio volumes, 
and the various decisions of courts upon them to ten 
or twenty times that number of volumes ; but in this 
convenient pocket-manual we have a code of per- 
fect laws applicable to every possible contingency 
of human relation and condition, and at the same 
time there accompanies us an interpreter and 



PERMANENCY OF THE BIBLE. 53 

judge, who, if its aid is honestly invoked, will 
unerringly decide every doubtful case. 

4. Notwithstanding the variety of subjects of 
which the Bible treats, the different characters, 
conditions and habits of the authors or compilers of 
its several books, and the ages which intervened 
between the dates of their composition or publi- 
cation, there has never been detected any import- 
ant deviation from one straight line of doctrinal 
and preceptive truth. All its parts are consistent, 
all its teachings uniform, — its requirements 
neither relaxed nor modified. Can a volume be 
produced to match it in these respects, or in any 
one of them? 

" The Bible might almost be compared to a 
high mountain, around the base and on the sides 
of which cities have been founded and decayed 
and States have sprung up and dissolved, leaving 
behind them deserted ruins, or peoples made up of 
numberless compositions of the conquerors and 
conquered of many generations, who may be very 
valiant, chivalrous and well governed, but are not 
living representatives, as a whole, of the original 
population. It might be very well for the inform- 
ation of modern nations, who live at too remote 



54 AGE OF THE BIBLE. 

a distance from the mountain to be able to ap- 
proach it, that there should exist local literature 
of various kinds, in prose and verse, in which the 
existence and exact position of that prominent 
feature in the near landscape had been frequently 
attested. But assuredly no proof of the grandeur 
of the scene, of the stupendous effects of volcanic 
agency, of the awe inspired by the veil which 
hides the summit from view, — no description of 
the extent of ground it covers, and the probable 
depths to which so great a mass must strike down 
its organic influence, — can ever be so telling as the 
silent testimony which the mountain itself must 
afford the spectator. No man who has once seen 
it will deny that it is older than all the cities 
which were built upon it, — than all the genera- 
tions whose bones are mingling with its dust. It 
will be too much for human nature to deny, after 
a view of it, that it was made when the rest of 
the world was made, and that whoever created the 
earth formed that mountain. So it is with the 
Bible."* 



* " The Pcntatouch its Chvn Witness." — Norrisian Prize Essay, 
1858, by Rev. William Ayerst. 



AGE OF THE BIBLE. 55 

The storm which shakes the oak only loosens 
the earth around its roots, and its violence enables 
the tree to strike them deeper in the soil. So 
it is that Scripture has gloriously surmounted 
every trial. " There gathers around it a dense 
' cloud of witnesses/ from the ruins of Nineveh 
and the valleys of the Nile, from the slabs and 
bas-reliefs of Sennacherib and the tombs and 
monuments of Pharaoh, from rolls of Chaldee 
paraphrasts and Syrian versionists, from the cells 
and libraries of monastic scribes and the dry and 
dusty labours of scholars and antiquaries." 

Our present Bibles are undiluted by the lapse 
of ages. " These oracles, written amidst such 
strange diversity of time, place and condition,— 
among the sands and cliffs of Arabia, the fields 
and hills of Palestine, in the palaces of Babylon, 
and in the dungeons of Borne, — have come down 
to us in such unimpaired fulness and accuracy 
that we are placed as advantageously towards them 
as the generation which hung on the lips of Jesus 
as he recited a parable on the shores of the Gali- 
lean Lake, or those churches which received from 
Paul or Peter one of their epistles of warning 
exposition." 



56 PERPLEXING QUESTION. 

" Yes ! The river of life, which issues out from 
beneath the throne of God and of the Lamb, may, 
as it flows through so many countries, sometimes 
bear with it the earthly evidences of its checkered 
progress; but the great volume of its water has 
neither been dimmed in its transparency nor bereft 
of its healing virtue."* 

A perplexing question is sometimes raised, 
when the claims of the Christian religion are dis- 
cussed, why so small a portion of mankind have 
embraced it. As an evidence of its truth, we refer 
to many wise and learned men in the successive 
ages of the world who have lived and died in 
the full belief of its doctrines. We ask, How could 
such men as Lord Bacon, Sir William Jones and 
Chief-Justice Hale be imposed upon by a false 
religion, and how could such multitudes of intel- 
ligent men and women throughout Christendom 
fall into the same delusion ? The reply is some- 
times made with an air of triumph that other 
minds, equally enlightened and philosophic, have 
rejected Christianity, and that in point of numbers 
the Christian faith ranks among its disciples a 

* North British Review. 



PERPLEXING QUESTION. 57 

very insignificant minority of the human race. 
However specious such a reply may be, it is very 
shallow. To determine its force, we must be 
satisfied, in regard to the first position, that the 
minds of those who reject the Christian system 
are in all respects equally competent to judge of 
its claims as the minds of those who believe it. 

Two persons may look at the same object and 
form entirely different opinions of its size, colour, 
proportions, &c. ; but whether one opinion is as 
good as another depends upon the organ and me- 
dium of vision and the various circumstances that 
may prejudice or distort them. One jury may 
reject evidence and acquit an offender while 
another would receive and weigh the same 
evidence and convict him. It would not do to 
say that one verdict was as likely to be right as 
the other. We must have juries alike and evi- 
dence alike in order to have opposite verdicts 
balance each other. Sir Isaac Newton receives 
Christianity as a revelation from Grod. Voltaire 
rejects it. Shall we consider the question of its 
truth or falsehood, so far as these two minds are 
concerned, in equilibrium ? Surely not. The com- 
parative strength, clearness and maturity of their 



58 REQUISITES TO RIGHT JUDGMENT. 

minds respectively must be determined. What 
was the comparative value of their judgment on 
subjects purely philosophical and not connected 
with religious belief? What degree of confidence 
was felt in their reasonings and deductions in re- 
spect to matters of pure science? Which of them 
would command the greatest degree of confi- 
dence in their judgment on moral subjects apart 
from revelation ? As the intellect and the moral 
feelings are intimately associated, we must ascer- 
tain their position in this respect. Will they be 
likely to look upon the evidence with equal candour 
and to weigh it with equal caution ? Or will one 
be prepared, by an obliquity of moral vision, to see 
only deformity and disproportion, where the other, 
with a rectitude of moral perception, will discern 
symmetry and grace ? And, if so, shall their judg- 
ments be set over against each other as of equal 
value ? 

We do not say, in this connection, that the recep- 
tion or rejection of Christianity is an affair of the 
heart rather than of the intellect. The position is 
true, and is a sufficient answer to all the cavils of 
skeptics and infidels ; but we take it simply in reply 
to the proposition that men of great minds have re- 



VALUE OF OPINIONS. 59 

jected it and that this neutralizes the force of the 
argument that great minds have received it. We 
say it has no such neutralizing effect till the receiv- 
ing and rejecting minds are shown to have some 
equality. We would not put an honest citizen's 
opinion of the law against a convict's, nor a de- 
cision of Chief-Justice Marshall against that of a 
country squire. 

Voltaire and Newton are as wide apart in their 
capacity to weigh evidence on moral subjects as 
are either of the parties we have named; and, of 
course, it is no sufficient answer to the argument 
that mighty intellects have submitted to the 
gospel to say that other mighty intellects have 
rejected it.* 

* In comprehensiveness of views, logical power and vast eru- 
dition, few men of the present age can claim a place above the late 
Dr. J. Addison Alexander. At twelve years of age he was familiar 
with Arabic and had read the Koran in that language. With most 
of the ancient Oriental and with all modern languages he was en- 
tirely familiar, and not only or chiefly as a linguist, but as a scholar. 
His power to grasp a subject in all its relations and bearings was 
extraordinary; and though possessed of a vigorous and prolific 
imagination, an extraordinary command of words and exquisite 
skill in adapting them exactly to his use, there was a notable 
simplicity and modesty in all the productions of his pen. He was 
a great man among men, but became as a little child when the 
things of the kingdom of God were the subjects of his thought. 
One who was personally and professionally intimate with him 



60 REQUISITES TO RIGHT JUDGMENT. 

As to the second position, — viz., that but a small 
proportion of the human race acknowledges the 
Christian system, — the fact can be easily explained 
without any impeachment of its claims. Of the 
ten hundred millions composing the human family, 
seven-tenths, probably, have never seen nor heard of 
the text-book of Christianity or the first word in 
support of its divine origin. And of the rest, the 
large majority have given it but a passing thought, 
dismissing it with a careless indifference as an 
unwelcome, if not an unworthy, subject of their 
attention. Even if it could be shown that of a 
thousand individuals of equal intellectual com- 
petency to decide the point, nine hundred and 
ninety-nine had decided against it, it would not 
necessarily follow that the thousandth man was 
in error, for he may have examined the subject 
under advantages not enjoyed by the others. 

But, above and beyond all this, the power to 



says, " In all my intercourse with men, both in this country and 
Europe, I never met with one having such a combination of 
wonderful gifts. The grace of God most to be admired was that, 
though of necessity perfectly familiar with all the forms of error 
held by the enemies of the truth, and especially the most insidious 
one of criticism, he had a most simple, childlike faith in the 
Scriptures, and the deepest reverence for the word of God/' 



CONDITION Or THE MIND. 61 

judge of the truth of a system which professes to 
have come from God and to be concerned exclu- 
sively with the moral relations and responsibilities 
of man as a subject of God's moral government, 
must be essentially a moral power. A blind man 
cannot judge of colours, nor a deaf man of musical 
sounds; neither can one whose affections are 
alienated from God, and whose whole moral nature 
is corrupt and defiled by sin, judge justly of a dis- 
pensation which reveals to him his own character, 
fixes upon him the deepest guilt, and threatens 
him with deserved punishment. He must be 
endued with power to discern the beauty of holi- 
ness and the deformity and malignity of sin, before 
he is competent to such a task; and this power is 
the free and gracious gift of the divine Being. 

Those who have never carefully reflected on 
the subject are not aware, probably, of the extent 
to which the intellectual perceptions are clouded 
and perverted by the weakness or disorder of the 
moral faculties. As a farthing rushlight in a dark 
passage gives him who has it the advantage of 
another (and perhaps a wiser) man who gropes in 
darkness, so he who has but a glimpse of the 
simplest truth of revelation occupies a position 



62 HEATHEN BLINDNESS. 

far in advance of a large proportion of the human 
family. 

There is an argument for the being of a God 
happily adapted to very mean capacities and 
shallow reasoners. It is familiar to you. Any 
thing made — a pin, a watch or a world — must have 
had a maker. A very inferior mind may perceive 
something of the force of such an argument for 
the existence of God; but we need not say what 
very low and gross conceptions even of his natural 
attributes might consist with such perceptions. 
What could such a one comprehend of the dis- 
tances, motions and changes of the heavenly 
bodies ? 

Suppose we tell him that, by means of an in- 
strument called a telescope, the caverns of the 
moon can be measured, and that so vast is the 
field of vision over which one of these instruments 
sweeps that if the Dog-star were to attempt to 
elude its grasp, and were to travel at the rate of 
twelve millions of miles in a minute, it would take 
him two thousand three hundred years to get 
beyond its reach ! What idea would he receive ? 
What idea can any one have of such time and 
distance? And yet the glimpse which such a 



INCONSISTENCY. 63 

mind obtains (by the force of this elementary 
argument) of the mere power of God, elevates 
it far above a heathen in his native ignorance. 
For he plants a tree, and when it is grown he cuts 
it down, and with part of it he makes a fire and 
warms himself, with part he roasts his meat or 
bakes his bread, and of the rest he makes a god, 
even his graA^en image. He falls down and wor- 
ships it, and has not understanding enough to say, 
"I have burned part of it in the fire, I have baked 
bread upon the coals thereof, I have roasted flesh 
and eaten it; and shall I make the residue thereof 
an abomination? Shall I fall down to worship 
that which comes of a tree?" This besotted con- 
dition of the understanding is one of the most 
formidable obstacles to the enlightenment of Pa- 
gan nations on spiritual subjects. 

The degraded condition of the heathen is as- 
cribed by an inspired apostle to their " unwilling- 
ness to retain God in their knowledge ;" and a little 
observation will satisfy any one that the state of 
the moral dispositions must of necessity be closely 
connected with the functions of the mind. There 
are doctrines of divine revelation which are offen- 
sive to my pride. To receive them is to put my- 



64 N MORAL DISQUALIFICATIONS. 

self on a level with the meanest and vilest of our 
apostate race. I am asked to take things upon 
faith which it is admitted I cannot understand; 
and what is this but to stultify myself and refuse 
to exercise the powers God has given me ? This 
seems very plausible ; but does not the mover of 
these objections allow himself to be brought into 
such a predicament on subjects which do not in- 
volve moral responsibility ? He cannot compre- 
hend how God's retributive justice as expressed 
in the doctrine of the eternal punishment of the 
wicked, can be reconciled with divine benevolence ; 
and therefore he rejects it. Does he comprehend 
how the acts of God's providential government 
can consist with infinite wisdom and love ? And if 
not, does he reject the idea of such a government? 
He cannot comprehend the mystery of the incar- 
nation ; and therefore he rejects it. Does he com- 
prehend other mysteries, such as that of human 
thought, or the connection of the mind and body, 
or even the grosser phenomena of vital heat and 
the flow of the blood? And if not, does he deny 
their existence ? 

Rely upon it, that if our moral perceptions 
and dispositions were not sadly perverted, most 



MORAL DISQUALIFICATIONS. 65 

of our intellectual perplexities respecting our 
relations to the spiritual world and its laws and 
government would never have arisen. If the 
Bible were less stern and holy in its precepts and 
doctrines, its opposers w r ould be few and far be- 
tween. 

5. It cannot be denied that there are persons 
of intelligence and integrity who do not receive 
the Bible as a book of divine authority. How 
far its claims to such a character have been care- 
fully and candidly investigated by such persons, 
with a desire (God being their judge) to know 
the truth and to receive it in the love of it, if in- 
deed the truth is there, is not for us to decide. 
If they find the deep cravings of their spiritual 
nature answered without such a revelation from 
God as this claims to be, or if they have clearer 
and more consistent views of the divine Being 
and his attributes by the light which is shed upon 
them from some other source, the foregoing argu- 
ment will be, to that extent, weakened. But it 
may be safely affirmed that in no event can the 
creature be safe or happy in a state of alienation 
from the Creator or of opposition to his laws, — 
that a proper regard to those laws, as affecting 

E 6* 



66 



AN APPROPRIATE PRAYER. 



the condition of our moral being, is essential to 
the perfect use and development of our intellectual 
powers, and that in the midst of the dangers and 
tumults, the clouds and storms, of this transient 
life, the prayer should be ever on our lips, 
"Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I." 



REVERENCE FOR THE BIBLE. 67 



CHAPTER II. 

How the Bible is to be received — Misconceptions and conflicting 
interpretations — Difficulties, whence arising and how overcome — 
General concurrence in the teachings of Scripture — Obstacles to 
a right understanding of what is revealed — The position of the 
believer. 

The divine authority of the Holy Scriptures 
being ascertained, we may be reasonably expected 
to approach them with the deepest reverence and 
humility. When the meekest of men was called 
into immediate communion with God, the com- 
mand was, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet; 
for the place whereon thou standest is holy 
ground." To consult the sacred oracles is an act 
of scarcely less imposing solemnity. 

It is to be regretted that the common use of 
the Bible in schools and families is by no means 
fitted to preserve even a traditional reverence for 
it ; and yet it would be a subject of still deeper 
regret if its circulation were restricted by any 
human authority. The multiplication of copies and 
their cheapness have put them within the reach of 



68 FREEDOM OF THE BIBLE. 

all who are disposed to read them. And, while we 
should cultivate in ourselves and others devout 
reverence for their contents, we should steadfastly 
oppose any attempt to remedy the abuses to 
which their free distribution may expose them, 
either by limiting their circulation or by requir- 
ing that an authorized interpretation should ac- 
company them to prevent their perversion. The 
Holy Ghost, who moved holy men of old to utter 
what is therein recorded, is promised to guide the 
meek and teachable into all truth. Instead of 
looking to earthly sources for liberty to read or 
light to interpret the sacred oracles, let our prayer 
be to the Supreme One, " Lord, open thou our 
eyes, that we may behold wondrous things out of 
thy law." 

The Bible is a book of mysteries. It would be 
very strange (would it not be ?) if a revelation of 
the Creator to his creatures — of the Infinite to the 
finite — did not contain some things not to be un- 
derstood by them. The self-existence of God is 
an unfathomable mystery. All his attributes are 
infinite, and, of course, incomprehensible by any 
finite mind. The less cannot contain the greater. 
But HQly Scripture docs not furnish the only re- 



MYSTERIES. 69 

relation we have of the character and will of the 
Supreme Being. His works of creation and pro- 
vidence exhibit them with an awful distinctness ; 
and they too abound with inexplicable phenomena. 
Who knows the source or nature of the power 
that supplies warmth to the natural body or 
propels the current of its life ? "Who can explain 
the connection between the thought of the inind, 
or the decree of the will, and the motion of the 
muscles that follows it as invariably as the 
shadow follows the substance ? The power and 
the impotency of man; his freedom and depend- 
ence ; his courage to go forward and his ignorance 
of what attends on his steps, are seeming incon- 
gruities in our nature, quite as inexplicable as any 
thing in the duties, doctrines or declarations which 
are drawn from the Bible. So that whether w r e 
extend our inquiries upward into the moral and spi- 
ritual nature of man, or descend to an examination 
of the wonders in the material and external world, 
we shall come back to the Bible fully prepared to 
find it crowded with mysteries. The entrance of 
sin into our world by the transgression of our first 
parents ; the effects of their apostasy upon the moral 
relations and prospects of all their posterity; the 



70 CONFLICTS OF OPINION. 

existence and influence of the tempter ; the incar- 
nation and death of the Son of God, followed by 
his resurrection and ascension; the agency of the 
Holy Spirit, and the work of converting and sanc- 
tifying the souls of men, are among those mys- 
teries and are to be received with submission and 
faith. 

Happily for us, the precepts which are to 
govern our conduct, and the promises of grace 
and strength to enable us to repent, believe and 
obey, are so exceedingly simple and plain that 
the peasant, the patriarch and the philosopher 
are alike able to receive them, and the wayfaring 
man, though a fool, need not err therein. 

We may be perplexed, oftentimes, by the con- 
flict of opinion among those whom we cannot but 
regard as the true servants of God. Doctrines 
which seem to be irreconcilable are urged with an 
earnestness and pertinacity that betoken confi- 
dence in their truth and importance, — and by those, 
too, for whose superior intelligence and eminent 
piety we cannot but feel unfeigned respect. How 
shall we determine their claims to our faith ? 

There is a promise from the lips of the 
divine teacher which comes most opportunely to 



FAITH AMONG THE LOWLY. 71 

our relief in this extremity: — If any man desires 
to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine ; 
(John vii. 17;) that is, he shall know whether the 
doctrine proposed, in any case, is of God, and, 
therefore, to be received. The first requisite, then, 
to a right judgment in matters of faith, is a heait 
right in the sight of God. He who submits 
meekly to the requirements of the divine law 
will not be left to grope in darkness. Hence it 
is that some of the most illustrious examples of 
godliness — of that godliness which has the pro- 
mise of the life that now is, as well as of that 
which is to come — are found among the ignorant 
and lowly. " They receive with meekness the 
engrafted word, which is able to save their souls." 
This state of mind is favourable to an increase of 
light. The glory of the divine character, the ex- 
cellence of the divine law and the riches of divine 
grace are seen by such persons with surprising dis- 
tinctness. Contrary to our experience in the vision 
of material things, it would seem that the clearest 
medium for discovering the magnitude and rela- 
tions of spiritual objects is in the valley of humi- 
liation. The deep things of Glod are hidden from 
the wise and prudent, and revealed to babes. 



72 PERPLEXITIES. 

It has often been my painful task to dislodge 
the mind of a young friend from a refuge of lies, 
to which it had betaken itself when hard pressed 
by the power of saving truth. Instead of yielding 
to the simple and obvious requirement of our 
heavenly Father, " My son, give me thine heart," 
there is a disposition to magnify difficulties and 
obstacles, and to insist on reconciling the real or 
supposed teachings of inspiration with the demands 
oi decisions of human reason. To take but a 
single illustration. 

Some persons have perplexed themselves greatly 
about the divine attribute of omniscience and its 
compatibility with the freedom of human actions. 
They have asked me questions like these. " If 
God knows all things, he foreknows them, does 
he not ? And if all things are foreknown they 
must be fixed, must they not? Because what- 
ever is foreknown must come to pass. And if 
whatsoever is to come to pass is fixed before- 
hand, it cannot be otherwise than it is, can it ?" 
And they are often conducted by these reasonings 
to the conclusion that their own personal salvation 
or perdition is among the events unalterably fixed 
and not to be affected by any possible act or effort 



PERPLEXITIES. 73 

on their part. Such persons are seldom aware 
to what extent these cavils result from pride and 
unbelief. And they are always surprised to find, 
when through grace they are adopted into God's 
family, how suddenly such clouds of doubt and 
idle speculation clear away and a serene and pure 
light shines upon what were once the darkest 
mysteries. 

I well remember a young friend in one of my 
Bible-classes whose pride of intellect was as 
obvious as any feature of her face, and who 
stubbornly insisted that it was no fault of her's 
that she was not a Christian. In the course of 
many protracted interviews with her, she took 
such positions as these : — - 

1. God might have prevented sin if he pleased; 
and that he did not, plainly shows that he prefers 
to have it in the world. Hence, that I should be 
a sinner is his choice, not mine. If he desires to 
make me different from what I am, he can easily 
do it. 

(Would it not be against your will ?) 

2. It is not my choice to live. I did not con- 
sent to existence. I am what I was made ; and 



74 PERPLEXITIES. 

He who made me what I am will do with me what 
he pleases. 

(It is his pleasure that you should love and 
serve him, and so be happy ; but he leaves it to 
your choice.) 

3. There are as good people out of the church 
as in it. Many intelligent and benevolent persons 
reject what are called orthodox doctrines. 

(We have a higher standard of duty than the 
example or opinion of others.) 

4. I cannot believe that a benevolent being 
would have brought me into the world with 
capacities for exquisite enjoyment or suffering, 
and after a few years would consign me to end- 
less wretchedness. 

(The being who gives us existence has made 
all possible provision for our highest happiness.) 

5. We are not the authors of our belief. 
Propositions are made to us, and our faith is 
solicited. Our minds are so constituted that 
some evidence is needful to excite our faith, (un- 
less the proposition is self-evident;) and as that 
evidence affects us we believe or withhold our 
belief, and are no more responsible for our rejec- 
tion or admission of it than for believing that 



CAVILS. 75 

white is white, or for not believing that it is blue 
or red. 

(Will such a plea be accepted from a child who 
does not believe it is his duty to obey his parents, 
or from a citizen who does not believe it is his 
duty to obey the magistrate ? The will to believe 
is not less^ necessary than evidence.) 

6. I cannot reconcile what the Bible tells me 
about God and his treatment of men — especially 
in the Old Testament history — with his supposed 
moral attributes. 

(Do ^ve know enough of God's plans to pass 
judgment on the consistency of what he permits ?) 

When the groundlessness of all these cavils 
had been clearly shown and the duty of an 
open confession of Christ as the only Saviour 
of sinners was urged, there was a new array 
of difficulties :— 

1. A profession of religion is not necessary to 
being a Christian. I am willing to be a disciple 
of Christ ; but I am restrained from an open pro- 
fession of my faith, 1. Because it seems osten- 
tatious to set myself up to be a Christian; 2. I 
may be self-deceived; 3. I may act inconsis- 
tently. 



76 IGNORANCE. 

(The obligation to confess Christ before men is 
imperative.) 

2. There are many conflicting opinions claim- 
ing a warrant from the Bible and held by equally 
good people ; and it is impossible to decide which 
is right. 

(If any man will do the will of God, he shall 
know of the doctrine.) 

3. I am not good enough to come to the Lord's 
table. I am conscious that I do not love him to 
the degree that such an act implies. 

(Christ came to call not the righteous, but 
sinners, to repentance.) 

4. My brothers and sisters and associates are 
quite as good as I am, — perhaps even better; and 
a profession of religion on my part would be re- 
garded as a tacit reproach to them, as though I 
were better or wiser than they. 

(Perhaps they are restrained from the dis- 
charge of their duty by the influence of your 
example.) 

The earnestness and pertinacity with which 
these views were urged, and the apparent self- 
satisfaction which they a Horded, cannot be de- 
scribed. The inadequacy of human " might and 



IGNORANCE. 77 

power" to cope with the spirit that prompted 
them was painfully obvious. But in process of 
time, and by means which Infinite wisdom chose, 
the scales fell from her eyes, — the hinderances 
to a simple, saving faith disappeared like icicles 
before the rays of an April sun. She became, to 
human appearance, an humble, docile child of God, 
and before reaching womanhood was called to her 
heavenly home. 

We have found it useful, in meeting such specu- 
lative inquiries, to advert to the very limited 
knowledge we possess of the attributes of the Al- 
mighty. The highest degree of knowledge attain- 
able by any human being chiefly serves to show 
how great is his ignorance. The things with which 
we are most familiar, — facts obvious to the senses, — 
are often utterly incomprehensible as to their nature : 
the mutual relations of the material and immaterial 
part of man — the phenomena of sleep — the instinct 
of animals — death. How ignorant is the wisest of 
our race of himself, — of his origin, his destiny! 
Each of us carries in his own bosom a w 7 orld in 
miniature. What conflicts are in progress there 
between passions and motives, inclinations and 
purposes, hopes and fears ! and how imperfectly 

7* 



78 IGNORANCE. 

can we trace their origin or indicate their tendency 
and end ! Little as each man knows of the working 
of his own mind, how much less does he know of 
the exercises of his companion's mind ? He meets 
perhaps thousands daily, each of whom shuts up, 
in inscrutable secrecy, his thoughts and emotions. 
And as to the next hour or moment, who knows 
what it will reveal ? The curtain is lifted by im- 
perceptible degrees, at each of which one and 
another of the vast purposes of the Infinite are, 
at the same moment, unfolded and executed. One 
is born, another dies. One is exalted, another is 
abased. One nation rises to view, another becomes 
extinct. War, pestilence and famine sweep over the 
earth, to be followed by peace, health and plenty. 
And who of the sons of men knoweth who shall 
come after him or what shall be on the morrow ? 

But to the omniscient God there is neither 
past nor future. A thousand years are in his 
sight as one day, and one day is as a thousand 
years. He knoweth the end, not merely of a single 
purpose, act or event, but of all things from the 
beginning. What Ave call time is an infinitely 
minute section of eternity. We measure it by 
ages, years and days. But yesterday and to- 



god's omniscience. 79 

morrow have no meaning when applied to the 
being or knowledge of God. An event which 
happened a thousand years ago, and one which 
shall happen a thousand years hence, are both as 
present to him as our consciousness of being is to 
us. The flood which destroyed the antediluvian 
world, and the fire that shall consume the world 
that now is, are alike present realities to him. 

And not only is there this all-comprehensive 
present view of all that ever has been or ever 
will or can be, but there are fixed, immutable 
laws by which the relations of cause and effect 
are so adjusted and controlled that all the wise 
and benevolent purposes of the Creator and 
Governor of the universe are sure of accomplish- 
ment. Of these purposes we can have no know- 
ledge except as they are revealed by the grace 
and providence of God. The Sacred Scriptures, 
which are the gift of his grace, make known to us, 
so far as we need knowledge, our origin and 
character, our relations and destiny. We are 
conscious of capacities and affections, of passions 
and emotions. We realize the successive stages 
of life as we pass from infancy to childhood, to 
youth, to manhood and to old age. In this pro- 



80 SELF-CONTROL. 

gress our capacities are enlarged; our affections 
seek and find sympathy; our passions and 
emotions are excited by the objects around us 
and by the reflection of our own minds. We are 
moved to do or to abstain from doing, not by any 
irresistible power, but by the influence of motives 
presented to the mind, which we can obey or 
resist at our pleasure. It may be that these 
motives become so powerful in some minds as 
completely to control the will ; but this strength 
they are allowed to acquire. However difficult it 
may be for the habitual drunkard to abstain from 
his cups after years of indulgence, he will not 
deny that the first, second or third draught might 
have been refused. The passions of revenge, ava- 
rice and ambition, which now reign with such 
terrible despotism in the soul, were once subordi- 
nate. They were infant Samsons asleep, and 
could have been bound with a silken thread. * It 
was a matter of choice with us, even in our 
childish pastimes, whether we would yield to a 
selfish temper, or whether it should become our 
highest enjoyment to contribute to the happiness 
of others. If we felt the weakness of our efforts 
to resist the promptings of an evil nature, we 



OUR POSITION. 81 

were not ignorant of the source of all needful 
strength, nor of the way of access to it : so that 
upon a candid review of our own life we shall 
find our sins lying at our own door, and all 
attempts to excuse or palliate them by reference 
to some unrevealed purpose of God are not only 
vain, but very sinful. 

This course of reasoning usually satisfies the 
inquirer for the time being, and until the great 
tempter again succeeds in persuading him to 
charge God foolishly. 

The first question we have to ask ourselves is, 
whether we have cheerfully and heartily sub- 
mitted our will to the will of God ? That such a 
state of submission is not natural to us, I need 
not stop to prove. When the first .man was 
formed in the image of God, his will was perfectly 
coincident with the will of God. When he 
voluntarily disobeyed the divine command, this 
coincidence ceased, and the image of God in 
which he was created was lost. The will of God 
being perfect and unchangeable, man must con- 
form to it, or he can neither glorify God nor enjoy 
his favour. To reconcile us to God, to restore 
this lost image, to bring man's will once more 

F 



82 DOCTRINAL DIVERSITY. 

into concurrence with God's will, was the grand 
purpose of the incarnation and death of his Son, 
our Saviour. As our substitute and surety, he 
rendered perfect obedience to the law; and by 
faith in him we become partakers of his right- 
eousness. For his sake our sins are pardoned. 
By his grace our souls are renewed. The spirit 
of adoption is given to us, and our first and earnest 
inquiry is, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" 
"Not as I will, but as thou wilt," expresses the 
prevailing temper of our minds. The subduing 
process is of heavenly origin. The grace which 
enables us to say, "Thy will be done !" is not of 
ourselves. It is the gift of God. But we shall 
have occasion to revert to this point hereafter, 
and have introduced it here only to show what is 
indispensable to a right understanding of revealed 
truth. 

The diversity of Christian doctrine, which is so 
perplexing to many persons, is, as I have before 
observed, much less than is generally supposed. 
If we leave out of view questions of mere form 
and ceremony and such as involve the organiza- 
tion and government of a body of disciples, we 
shall find that a vast majority of those who profess 



DOCTRINAL AGREEMENT. 83 

the Protestant faith agree substantially in the 
truths which are to be believed in order to salva- 
tion, — though we do not mean by this expression 
to affirm that none who do not receive them all 
can be saved, — and so far as a system of faith is 
deducible from Holy Scripture, it would compre- 
hend the following particulars, — viz. : The supre- 
macy of the inspired volume as a rule of faith 
and duty ; the lost state of man by nature, and 
his exposure to endless punishment in a future 
existence ; his recovery by the free, sovereign 
and sustaining grace of God, through the atoning 
sacrifice and merits of a divine Redeemer and by 
the influence of the Holy Spirit; the necessity 
of faith, repentance and holy living, with an open 
confession of the Saviour before men; and the 
duty of observing the ordinances of Baptism and 
the Lord's Supper. The same doctrines, in a 
somewhat amplified form, are set forth, in the 
Apostles' Creed, (before mentioned,) which now 
stands in the liturgy of a majority of churches in 
Christendom as it stood fifteen or sixteen hundred 
years ago, and has been used as a summary of 
the faith of the professed followers of Christ from 
that day to this. It may be well to bear in mind 



84 SOURCE OF OPINIONS. 

that those who receive in true faith the doctrines 
taught in either of the summaries to which we 
have referred have in company with them seven- 
eighths of the religious professors in Christendom : 
so that an honest inquirer after truth may regard 
any apparent diversity of doctrine among the 
avowed disciples of Christ as a matter of com- 
paratively little consequence. Such diversity 
must be ascribed to the imperfection of human 
judgment rather than to any w 7 ant of harmony or 
consistency in the teachings of Holy Scripture. 

In the study of Scripture, people are very apt 
to hold to some opinions derived perhaps they 
know not whence; and whatever they find in 
support of these they readily receive, while 
whatever is contrary to them they doubt or 
reject. In a free Christian country like our's, it 
is rare to find persons who have not some notion 
of religious truth : it is by no means rare, how- 
ever, to find those who hold fast religious opinions 
which they have not only never examined by the 
light of Scripture, but for which they can give 
no better authority than that "some one told 
them so." 

To have our views rooted and grounded, we need, 



PREJUDICE. 85 

in the first place, a supreme, unquestioning defer- 
ence to Holy Scripture as a rule of faith; and, 
secondly, a clear conviction that what we believe 
is read therein or may be proved thereby. 

The first of these requisites is often wanting, 
even in those who profess to receive the Scriptures 
as of divine authority. Instead of yielding faith 
promptly to all their teachings, they accept only 
so much as is consonant with their notions of 
what is proper and reasonable, and regard the rest 
as spurious, or interpolated, or mistranslated, or of 
local and temporary use and now obsolete. Some 
portions are reckoned among the extravagances 
of Oriental imagery; some as applicable only to 
nations now extinct, and some as pure fiction ; so 
that, after lopping off all these supposed excrescen- 
ces, there is scarcely enough left of the form and 
life of the original to enable us to recognise it. 

It is in no such spirit as this that the divine 
oracles are to be consulted by those who would 
know the truth. That they will find doctrines 
there entirely beyond their comprehension, we 
admit. That they will find doctrines contrary to 
reason, or inconsistent with what we can compre- 
hend, we may safely deny. 



86 UNIVEESALISM. 

Most of the erroneous views that prevail in 
the world result from a gross misuse of the sacred 
volume. Take, for example, the doctrine popularly 
known as Universalism. Its advocates present 
God to us as an infinitely merciful Being, and 
we rejoice to recognise him under this attribute. 
They then ask, triumphantly, if it is possible to 
suppose that he would form and endow a creature 
like man, give him a dwelling-place for a few 
brief years in this world, with a certainty that he 
would sin, and then, for this sin, consign him to 
eternal misery ! The bare suggestion they pro- 
nounce a monstrous libel on the divine govern- 
ment. To show that it is anti-scriptural, they 
quote passages in which the benefits of Christ's 
redemption are represented as commensurate with 
the consequences of sin: — a As in Adam all die, 
so in Christ shall all be made alive ;" " That he, 
(Christ,) by the grace of God, should taste death 
for every man;" He (the Lord) is not willing 
that any should perish, but that all should come 
to repentance. When, in reply, passages are cited 
which describe the wicked as going away into 
everlasting punishment, and the righteous into 
life eternal, they at once refer us to passages in 



UN1VERSALISM. 87 

wliich the hills and mountains are spoken of as 
everlasting, the word being used to express 
stability or continuance, not endless duration. 
And such expressions as " outer darkness, where 
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth," "ever- 
lasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels," 
and hell, "where their worm dieth not and the 
fire is not quenched," are regarded as nothing more 
than highly figurative expressions, to denote re- 
morse and other sufferings which wicked men ex- 
perience, but which terminate at the grave. It 
will be observed that this is the judgment which 
offenders pass upon the character and purposes 
of the government which they have abused, and 
of the justice and propriety of the law which 
condemns them. Their position is evidently not 
favourable to an impartial decision, even if it 
were only human laws and magistrates with 
whom they had to do. But in the case before 
us the parties have but a very limited conception 
of the high matters about which they exercise 
themselves. The character of the law given is 
revealed to them but very partially, w T hile of the 
nature of the law itself, and of the interests 
beyond our sphere of knowledge that are pro- 



88 IMPERFECT KNOWLEDGE. 

tected by it, our information is still more limited. 
What sin is in the sight of a holy being, and 
what mischief the least sin works in the adminis- 
tration of the divine government, who can tell ? 
No philosopher would be bold enough to assert 
what would be the full effect of impairing in the 
slightest degree the exact order and relation of 
the elements which are combined in the various 
forms of the visible creation. And yet there are 
not a few who do not hesitate to sit in judgment 
on the divine administration and determine what 
befits infinite wisdom and benevolence in the 
conduct of its affairs. 

If our legislature should make it a capital 
offence not to take the right hand in passing 
over a bridge, we might justly condemn it as 
an unreasonable and tyrannical law; for we 
know the full extent of the interests that re- 
quire such a regulation, and of the evil which 
results from passing a bridge without regarding 
it. It is a subject wholly within our compre- 
hension ; and reason teaches us that the penalty 
is utterly disproportioned to the offence. 

But suppose a Hottentot, fresh from the bush, 
should suddenly come upon a railroad-track, and, 



IMPERFECT KNOWLEDGE. 89 

without knowing at all the use of it, should be 
told that to lay a rail across it, or to put any ob- 
struction in the way, was a capital offence: he 
would be very likely to regard it in the same 
light as w T e would a like penalty for violating the 
bridge-law. But let him see a locomotive, with 
its train of ten or twelve cars freighted with 
many hundreds of men, women and children, 
suddenly thrown from the track, and the dying 
and the dead, crushed human limbs, broken tim- 
bers and twisted iron all piled together in horrible 
confusion and ruin, and his views would be mate- 
rially modified. If he should stand by and see 
the bleeding, mutilated bodies drawn out one 
after another, and witness the anguish of attend- 
ing relatives and friends, he would not wonder 
w T hy the offence of obstructing a railway is 
punished with such severity. 

The question, what is a just expression of 
divine displeasure towards a transgression of the 
divine law, cannot be determined without divine 
knowledge and purity. And hence the conclusions 
of Universalists are not entitled to confidence. 
" Their rock is not as our rock, our enemies 
themselves being judges." 



90 PATERNAL THEORY. 

It is a favourite conception of many persons 
that God's paternal character forbids the thought 
that he should inflict legal or judicial punishment. 
The most we can anticipate, they say, is kind dis- 
cipline. A popular magazine will ring the changes 
on this idea from month to month, so veiled in 
pathos and sophistry that an unwary reader 
would scarcely detect it. A " sensation'-story 
in a weekly periodical will slily inculcate it in de- 
scribing a fictitious death-scene. Objections to the 
doctrine of the eternity of future punishment will 
be put into the mouth of a mourning mother 
whose ungodly son has perished at sea, and to 
her pathetic renunciation of the horrible thought 
that his soul is lost, some uneducated and perhaps 
half-witted bystander is made to offer a weak and 
utterly inconclusive argument. 

Such views, proceeding from persons of intel- 
ligence, refinement and influence, and urged in in- 
timate association with humane and philanthropic 
sentiments, — not unmixed, perhaps, with a spice 
of satire, — have a marked effect on the popular 
mind. 

It is, nevertheless, true that the denial of the 
doctrine in question is almost the uniform pre- 



FALSE PREMISES. 91 

cursor of a state of general doubt and skepti- 
cism, — especially in respect to the nature and 
desert of sin, and the necessity of an atonement 
by sacrifice. " Such a denial involves the virtual 
rejection of the moral government of God and of 
the whole system of redemption. " 

The same may be said of the views which 
errorists of various classes take of God's method 
of dealing with his creatures. They start with 
the assumption that there is no such moral rela- 
tion between the first man, Adam, and any of his 
posterity as involves them in his guilt or its con- 
sequences. Hence they discard the idea of the 
depravity or utter unholiness of our original 
nature. That men do not love and obey God, is 
because their natural affections are not properly 
cultivated. They are neglected and uneducated ; 
and, falling into the strong currents of temptation 
and evil association that surround them, they are 
carried hither and thither in courses of sin. But 
God is merciful. They are all his creatures. He 
knows and pities their weaknesses, and he will 
make allowances for the defects of their obedience 
and love. To show them how they should live, 
he commissioned an eminent prophet, Jesus of 



92 FALSE PREMISES. 

Nazareth, to appear upon the earth and set them 
a perfect example ; and this prophet even yielded 
himself to a martyr's death, that he might perfectly 
illustrate the duty of submission to the divine will. 
The great mystery of godliness, God manifest in 
the flesh ; the idea that the justice of God would 
not only permit, but appoint, the sacrifice of a per- 
fectly innocent being, in order (as they say) that 
he might exercise his other attribute of mercy; 
the doctrine that a poor, dependent creature, like 
man, cannot approach his Creator, even to ask 
forgiveness of his sins, without an intercessor ; 
and that to secure the divine favour a supernatural 
change of the whole moral nature is indispensable : 
these and the like doctrines are repugnant, in 
their view, to all honourable and rational con- 
ceptions of the character and government of God. 
So that, in making up their system of religious 
belief, they leave out what, in their judgment, 
encumbers and deforms a proper view of the 
Supreme Being and of his dispensations towards 
men, retaining only what comports with their idea 
of his paternal character and manifestations. 

It is obvious that the Scriptures in this case 
are not consulted as an unerring record of divine 



FALSE PREMISES. 93 

truth. Nothing is received on their simple 
authority as a matter of faith. So far as they 
teach what approves itself to human judgment, 
they are accredited, but no further. 

Now, it will be perceived that the position of 
those who receive Holy Scripture as entirely and 
altogether of divine authority, believing alike 
what is and what is not within their comprehen- 
sion, is far from an arrogant one. It may be that 
others, from a different stand-point, have a wider 
survey of the interests of the universe, and of 
the laws and ordinances that will best subserve 
the glory of its Creator. But we admit our 
ignorance, and ask for light. We receive as true 
what we cannot understand, — much less explain. 
We are conscious of existence ; but why, how or 
for what end we exist, we are very superficially 
informed. And as to the unseen world, its in- 
habitants and their modes of intercourse, and the 
vast designs of infinite wisdom and power in 
ordering the affairs of his universe, of which the 
earth, with its thousand millions of inhabitants, is 
but a dim speck, — of all these we are profoundly 
ignorant, except so far as Holy Scripture en- 
lightens us. 



94 OUR SAFETY. 

That God reigns, that he is supremely good 
and wise and just, we are assured ; and what his 
purposes are we know, so far as knowledge of 
them is needful for our safety and happiness. As 
in the natural world we are sufficiently cognizant 
of its laws to protect and provide for ourselves, 
though we are ignorant of ten thousand mysteries 
which those laws involve, so in the spiritual world 
we have light enough to guide us to the realms 
of everlasting day, though the deep designs and 
counsels of the Almighty are wrapped in clouds 
and darkness and will remain so as long as the 
finite is less than the infinite. 

But what are clouds and darkness, lightnings 
and tempests, to one who stands securely on the 
Rock that is higher than all? 






BASIS OP CHARACTER. 95 



CHAPTER III. 

Influence of a divine revelation on intellectual character — Is there 
an innate idea of God? — Possible condition of unf alien man — 
Effect of association — Faith a means of invigorating the mental 
and moral powers — The happy old man — Sir Humphry Davy, 

There is one view of the bearing of a divine 
revelation upon human welfare which is of great 
interest to my mind. I refer to its indispensable- 
ness as the basis of a symmetrical moral and in- 
tellectual character. An objectless, aimless, point- 
less life can end in nothing great, or good, or 
happy. 

" Stability depends on singleness of purpose. 
But the purpose must be adequate to the absorp- 
tion of the energies of the mind and will. The 
pursuit of a bubble or a butterfly with a single 
purpose would not produce stability, but fickle- 
ness. The pursuit of some great temporal object 
(like the discovery of some new principle of art 
or science) may give exclusiveness of purpose 
and prevent frivolity and sloth, but it must be a 



96 BASIS OF CHARACTER. 

purpose commanding all the powers and faculties, 
the pursuit of some attainable but vast and in- 
terminable good, that will give perfect and per- 
manent stability.'' 

Assuming that the Creator of the human mind 
understands perfectly its capacities and wants, we 
cannot doubt that, in his infinite benevolence and 
wisdom, he would prescribe laws for its govern- 
ment, the observance of which would secure the 
highest measure of happiness of which its nature 
is capable. And had our first parents obeyed the 
divine command, we are assured, they would have 
continued in the enjoyment of the divine favour to 
the present hour, and of course would have been 
steadily advancing in knowledge and happiness. 

We may have fancied, perhaps, the exquisite 
satisfaction with which man — the newly-created 
product of the divine hand — beheld the fair temple 
which had been built and furnished for his abode. 
As he surveyed the countless forms of joyous life 
and immaculate beauty which surrounded him, — 
and especially when favoured with such intimate 
communion with his Maker as was then allowed 
him, — the spontaneous language of his heart would 
be love and praise, and his highest and holiest 



KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 97 

aspirations would be for perfect conformity to the 
divine will. But the scene suddenly changes. 
Over all that was just now glowing with divine 
radiance is spread the pall of midnight. Such a 
transition is but faintly emblematical of the 
change in the circumstances and prospects of the 
human soul when sin was admitted to its secret 
chambers. The man still retained capacities and 
desires which assimilated him to his Maker. He 
had power to discern the wonders of this lower 
creation, and to comprehend in some degree the 
immeasurable vastness of the heavenly bodies 
and the laws which guide and govern them in 
their sublime courses. But as to any knowledge 
of the existence and attributes of the God whom 
man was made to worship, the uninstructed mind 
is a perfect blank. The first and direst effect of 
sin was the alienation of the soul not only from 
the favour, but from the knowledge, of God. 
Fallen man " does not like to retain God in his 
knowledge." 

Curious investigations of this subject have 
often been made. The late Rev. Thomas IT. Gal- 
laudet, whose name and life were so closely iden- 
tified with the instruction of deaf-mutes, was of 



98 KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 

the opinion that the notion of a Creator or moral 
governor of the universe does not exist in the 
mind anterior to instruction. He mentions cases 
to illustrate his views, of which one was an in- 
telligent young woman, nineteen years of age, 
whose parents were sure they had succeeded in 
giving her some idea of God, because whenever 
the word " God" was shown to her in the Bible 
she would look very serious and point reve- 
rentially to the sky. After a course of instruc- 
tion in a school for deaf-mutes, she became a pro- 
fessor of religion, but uniformly affirmed that 
before she was nineteen she had no idea of a soul 
distinct from the body or that would survive it, 
and that all her notions of God were that it was 
some person in the sky that sent down the wind 
and rain and snow upon the earth. 

He speaks of minds of the highest order of in- 
telligence, keenly observant of all the concerns 
of life, of acute sagacity in discovering the rela- 
tion of cause and effect, both in human conduct 
and in mechanical contrivances, and capable of 
adapting means to ends with surprising readiness 
and ingenuity. And when he has asked them 
what they used to think when they saw the sun 



KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 99 

and moon and stats, and the earth, and all that 
lives and grows upon it, and if they never in- 
quired who made them, or whence they came, 
"Never," has been the uniform answer. 

So it was in the case of the deaf-mute, John 
Briit, whose history by Charlotte Elizabeth you 
may have seen. After he had been for some time 
under instruction, he pointed one day towards the 
sun, and, making motions with his hands like" a 
person kneading dough, he asked his teacher (by 
signs) if she made it. 

She shook her head. 

" Did your mother make it ?*' 

"No." 

"Did Mr. Shaw or Mr. Roe make it, [referring 
to two Protestant clergymen,] or the priest? 
(meaning the Roman Catholic priest.)" 
' "No." 

" Then what ? What ?" he inquired, with a frown 
and stamp expressive of the utmost impatience. 
His teacher pointed upwards with a look of reve- 
rential solemnity, and spelled the word God. 

At a later period he said that as to the sun, 
"he could not look at it long enough to deter- 
mine how it was made ; but the moon," he said, 



100 EARLY IMPRESSIONS, 

"is a dumpling sent rolling over the tops of the 
trees, as I send a marble across the floor." And 
as for the stars, " they could be cut out with a 
large pair of shears and stuck into the sky with 
the end of the thumb." Having thus settled his 
system of astronomy, he looked very happy, and 
patted his breast with evident self-applause. 

The very early period at which religious impres- 
sions are received in the midst of religious scenes 
and services does not militate against the doctrine 
that religious ideas (i.e. ideas of the true God) are 
not naturally in the human mind. I have before 
me at this moment a letter from a dear friend, 
who had suffered the loss of a darling little boy, 
in which he speaks of the child's knowledge of 
religious truth with admiration. "He was but 
two years and four months old when he died ; 
and yet he had thought, knowledge and feeling 
about God. He knew that God made all, sees 
all, keeps all and loves all." The child's grand- 
father, an illustrious man of God, made it a prac- 
tice every day for months to call the child to him 
and say, " Now I am going to pray for you." He 
would then lay his hands on his little head and 
pray. He never hesitated a moment to leave his 



THE FORSAKEN PALACE. 101 

play at this call, and never showed any weariness 
or levity. The afternoon before his death, being, 
to all appearance, perfectly well, he cheerfully gave 
his father some toys with which he was playing, 
on being told it was God's day. Some time after, 
he was playing again, but suddenly left his play, 
put a chair in the middle of the room, kneeled 
with a solemn air, and distinctly said, " Our 
Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy 
name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done. 
Amen." An hour before he died, he put up his 
hands and said, "I want to say my prayers." 

There are probably many cases parallel to this, 
and even still more remarkable, which are never 
brought to public notice ; and they all go to 
show that religious truth may be inculcated at a 
very early age, and that the susceptibility of just 
impressions of duty to God is much greater in 
infant minds than is generally supposed, — but not 
that a knowledge of him is possessed until com- 
municated. 

Much that is mysterious in man must be as- 
cribed to the fact that he is separated from God. 
He is like a wondrous palace, forsaken of the only 
being that could diffuse light and life and joy 



102 THE FORSAKEN PALACE. 

f 

through all its magnificent apartments : apply all 
the curious, richly wrought furniture to its proper 
use and direct the whole fabric to the fulfilment 
of its true destiny. And whenever that being 
returns to the full possession of it, all apparent 
inconsistencies will be reconciled, ambiguities ex- 
plained, and harmony and utility at once prevail. 

" Since then, my God, thou hast 
So brave a palace built, oh, dwell in it, 
That it may dwell with thee at last." 

Our race is (we suppose) the lowest in the 
scale of intellectual beings. Whether it was 
originally so is more than w^e can affirm. It is 
impossible for us to conceive what position we 
might have occupied if sin had not invaded 
Paradise. What we might have known of God 
from his works alone, had not our intellectual 
and moral sense been perverted by sin, it is im- 
possible to say. Such a union as our nature 
exhibits of a material, mortal body with an im- 
material, immortal soul we do not know to exist 
in any other part of the universe. What such a 
nature as man's in his unfallen state was capable 
of becoming, we know not. It is not impossible 
that, but for the apostasy of our first parents, 



FxlLLEN CREATURES. 103 

our race might have exhibited to other orders of 
beings the spectacle of a wonderful mode of exist- 
ence in the simultaneous developement of spiritual 
and physical capacities in one and the same indi- 
vidual. The fact that our blessed Saviour as- 
cended from earth with a body in form like our's, 
and that Moses and Elias appeared on the mount 
of transfiguration with bodily organs like ours, 
may teach us what havoc sin made with God's 
handiwork in the human frame, that not only 
sickness and suffering should accompany it all 
the way through life, but that, to reach the 
exalted destiny to which it may aspire through 
redeeming grace, it must pass through the mys- 
terious — and, to nature, the revolting — process of 
death and dissolution. 

The force of the phrase " fallen creatures," 
so often flippantly used in speaking of our race, 
is seldom realized. Holy Scripture represents us 
as having left the service of the only Being in 
the universe who has the supreme claim to our 
love and obedience, to enter the service of the 
only being in the universe who has the will and 
(we consenting) the power to destroy us and 
make us miserable forever. This is a fall, indeed ! 



104 THOUGHTS. 

To construct from such a complete ruin a 
temple for the abode of a pure spirit, demands 
divine power and skill. We are conscious of the 
disorder and perverseness of our minds. We 
cannot control our thoughts. They control us. 
They dictate to us what books to read, what 
amusement to seek, what company to join, what 
calls to make and in what pursuit to engage, and 
we obey their voice. They are excited by what- 
ever we see or hear. They excite each other. 
A crowd of them, evil and good, wise and foolish, 
follow each other with inconceivable rapidity. 
Now and then one of them fixes itself upon a 
single object of observation, memory or anticipa- 
tion for a longer or shorter time, and perhaps 
returns to the same object again after a brief 
interval, and brings other thoughts with it, and 
at length the individual may be so absorbed 
by it, that the humour and character shall take 
their complexion from it. Think a moment of 
the action of your mind for the past hour, and 
see if you cannot recognise these phenomena. 

If the object on which they prefer to rest is 
on the whole worthy, and if the contemplation 
of it is fitted to elevate and expand the mind, the 



ASSOCIATION. 105 

effect will soon be seen; and not less soon and 
certainly if it is unworthy. 

" He who loveth mean and sordid things doth 
thereby become base and vile ; but a noble and 
well-placed affection doth advance and improve 
the spirit into a conformity with the perfections 
which it loves. The images of these do frequently 
present themselves unto the mind, and, by a secret 
force and energy, insinuate into the very constitu- 
tion of the soul and mind and fashion it unto 
their own likeness. Hence we may see how 
easily lovers and friends do slide into the imita- 
tion of persons whom they affect, and even before 
they are aware they begin to resemble them, not 
only in the more considerable instances of their 
deportment, but also in their voice and gesture, 
and that which we call their mien and air ; and 
certainly we should as w r ell transcribe the virtues 
and inward beauties of the soul if they were 
objects and motives of our love." 

It was while Carey, the cobbler, was teaching 
a group of children in a village school the division 
of the population of the globe into pagans, Moham- 
medans, &c. that the thought suggested itself 
which proved to be the germ of one of the most 



106 BASIS OF EDUCATION. 

vast and imposing systems of modern missions. 
The mind needs to be drawn towards some object 
fitted to give healthful exercise to its highest 
powers. When one faculty is unduly tasked, or 
when they are all engaged on objects of inferior 
interest or importance, the effect is analogous to 
that produced upon the body when any of its 
organs are neglected or abused : deformity, disease 
and decay will ensue. 

What I maintain is that a right apprehension 
of the truths of revealed religion entertained at 
your time of life will do more for the healthy 
and harmonious developement of your intellectual 
nature than all the skill and labour of the most 
accomplished educators. There are sciences the 
study of which is supposed to give the pupil 
extraordinary powers of abstraction ; but, if we 
would have all the faculties trained to the highest 
use of which they are capable, they should be 
employed, from the first, in the contemplation of 
the character and attributes of the Creator, ad- 
vancing from the rudiments which a little child 
can comprehend to the things into which angels 
desire to look. Hence, independently of all re- 
ligious considerations, I would, as an educator 



POWER OF TRUTH. 107 

merely r , desire that the knowledge of God, as he 
is revealed in Holy Scripture and in the works 
of creation, should be made the basis and prop 
of all intellectual improvement. Exercise of the 
mental powers stimulated only or chiefly by the 
love of science or the desire of fame must often- 
times exhaust and confound them. But when 
the human soul receives by faith those doctrines 
of Holy Scripture which the unlettered peasant 
can understand as truly, if not as fully, as the 
profound philosopher, a light is struck within 
that ruined temple which nothing can extinguish. 
What was before mysterious and perplexing 
becomes plain and clear, and thenceforward there 
is a beautiful and healthful concurrent develope- 
ment of the whole intellectual and moral nature. 

Intelligent and highly-cultivated men are some- 
times found — men of extraordinary powers as 
poets, orators, mathematicians and astronomers — 
who betray a marvellous weakness and muddiness 
of intellectual perception when discussing re- 
ligious truth, — not because of any obscurity in 
the object, but, as there was no early subjection 
of the understanding to the influence of faith in 
the simple doctrines of our holy religion, their 



108 SOURCES OF ERROR. 

powers have unfolded unequally, and the deformity 
cannot be concealed. 

It is for want of understanding the force and 
scope of such doctrines, and failing to recognise 
their divine origin and authority, that large num- 
bers of men and women are carried hither and 
thither at the whim of some impudent errorist, 
making a total wreck of character, prosperity and 
peace in the espousal of some inexpressible ab- 
surdity. Who that reads wisely and weighs well 
the most obvious truths of the Bible could possibly 
be ensnared by the delusion of Millerism or Irving- 
ism ? Who that is capable of sober reasoning on 
any principles of truth, in the Bible or out of it, 
could be seduced by such preposterous stories as 
those of Joe Smith or Ann Lee ? 

It cannot have escaped your observation, I pre- 
sume, that those who are most ignorant of the 
Bible are most easily duped by the propagators 
of error. Untaught as they are in the principles 
and requirements of revealed religion, the mind 
is prepared to receive and entertain the grossest 
forms of superstition and delusion. A senseless 
repetition of words, — perhaps in an unknown 
tongue, — a round of formality, or the mere count- 



MOTIVES. 109 

ing of a string of beads, is well fitted to their 
capacity. The proposal to make their salvation 
sure by doing this or abstaining from that, with- 
out the trouble of thinking or inquiring, is, of 
course, grateful to them ; and so they commit the 
cure and care of their souls to some priest of sin, 
Satan, or the pope, (it matters little which,) and 
then close their eyes and fold their hands to 
sleep. It is not impossible, too, that now and 
then persons of more enlarged intellectual views 
may be so destitute of religious culture, or that 
their religious capacities may have been so dwarfed 
and weakened by neglect, that they will resort to 
some similar mechanical process, and intrust their 
immortal interests to the keeping of one who has 
enough to do in working out his own salvation. 
They must, of course, lack the liberty which crea- 
tures of God feel when God himself is the supreme 
and absorbing object of their faith and love — that 
liberty with which Christ makes men free. 

I need not say to you how closely the powers 
and achievements of the mind are identified with 
the character and force of our moral principles. 
The love of life and the fear of pain are instinct- 
ive. The dread of punishment restrains many 

10 



110 MOTIVES. 

from crimes; and the apprehension of what may 
follow makes death terrible. Remove this fear, 
and what would not some men do ? And yet how 
uncertain such a motive is, and how feeble it must 
become sooner or later ! How many cases have 
occurred (some, perhaps, within your personal 
knowledge, and very many of which you have 
heard) of persons who have been led along from 
one stage of iniquity to another, emboldened by 
the hope of eluding suspicion or escaping detec- 
tion, until some audacious act, or perhaps a tri- 
vial incident, has betrayed them into irretriev- 
able disgrace and ruin ! Not so with the motive 
which the fear of God supplies. Its controlling 
power is uniform, permanent and universal. Act- 
ing under it, I am conscious that an eye is upon 
me from which nothing can be concealed. An 
omniscient, omnipresent God is with me "in my 
going out and in my coming in, in my lying 
down and in my rising up." To sin is to offend 
his infinite majesty. It is to pollute my own 
soul. It is to widen the chasm between me and 
all holy and happy beings. It is, in a word, to 
destroy myself! 

Who does not see the incomparable advantage 



A SAFEGUARD. Ill 

of such an element as this in the constitution of 
a human character ? The habit of judging of the 
right or wrong of any action by direct reference 
to the unerring standard of divine truth ; shrink- 
ing instinctively from the temptation to sin; hold- 
ing no parley with the tempter nor weighing for a 
moment the probabilities of exposure, is of ines- 
timable value, if it were only for the stability and 
symmetry it insures to the character. Reflection 
upon past life, and my observation of the subtle 
ways in which men are tempted to the first wrong 
act, convince me of the value of a maxim which 
I commend to all my young friends ; and that is, 
never to do a thing, no matter how trivial, which you 
would be tempted to deny if you were questioned about 
il. If it is a case of doubtful morality, and you 
feel disposed to ask, u Is there any harm in doing 
this?" answer the question by asking yourself 
another : — "Is there any harm in letting it alone ?" 
For a familiar example, if I had the opportunity to 
read a book, or a newspaper article, or a letter, which 
I should feel reluctant to acknowledge I had read 
were I asked, this of itself should deter me from 
reading it. Or if I were disposed to take a walk, 
or make a call or an engagement, and should be un- 



112 life's phases. 

willing to have it known anywhere and by every- 
body, this very unwillingness is a safeguard 
which I should scrupulously preserve. Nothing is 
so sustaining and invigorating to the whole moral 
and intellectual character as the consciousness of 
perfect uprightness in our acts and motives. 

But there is still another aspect in which we 
must regard the influence of a belief in divine 
revelation upon the formation of character as of 
essential importance. It chastens the natural affec- 
tion for transient and unsatisfying enjoyments. It 
is not to be denied that there are interests and 
pleasures pertaining to the present world in the 
pursuit of which there is much agreeable excite- 
ment. The vivacity and love of frolic which 
characterize childhood are not unfrequently re- 
tained to mature age. To children such disposi- 
tions are appropriate. It is the mode in which 
their physical nature unfolds itself. They run and 
dance and sing as naturally as they eat and breathe 
and sleep. If they have food, clothes and kind 
treatment, their life is a continual flow of animal 
spirits. God forbid that it should not be so ! 
And yet their exuberant spirits are curbed, and 
their buoyant and active natures are subjected 



life's phases. 113 

to the severe, almost unnatural, but still needful, 
discipline of the nursery and the school-room. 
And then how often sickness overcasts the sun- 
niest skies of childhood, and, if it does not end 
their little pilgrimage, dooms them to pursue it 
with a saddened spirit and perhaps a deformed 
frame, with the probability of premature decay 
and death! Beautiful as the world is to the 
healthy and gay, there is a felt need of some- 
thing brighter and better for such as are limping 
through it on a crutch, or without eyes to see 
the stars and flowers, or ears to hear the birds. 

And, if they pass this first joyous stage of 
earthly existence without a sigh or a pain, how 
often there await them, at the very threshold 
of maturer life, sorrows which no human sym- 
pathy can assuage ! And then what burdens and 
privations attend upon the trembling footsteps of 
age ! And on what shall the old man lean with 
confidence and hope in the absence of a covenant 
God and Saviour? But with what attractive grace 
and dignity does he whose faith recognises the 
benevolence and tenderness of a Father's hand, 
bow to the rod and even kiss the hand that 

holds it! 

H 10* 



114 THE HAPPY OLD MAN. 

It is wonderful with what tenacity the memory 
retains religious impressions once made upon it, 
and what strength there is in early religious 
habits to sustain and brighten life in the soul 
when the powers of body and mind have fallen 
into decay. It was my privilege once to know 
a gentleman, formerly engaged in extensive 
mercantile business, whose old age furnished 
an impressive illustration of this remark. I 
saw and conversed with him in the ninety- 
second year of his age. His silvery hair, his 
ruddy complexion and soft unwrinkled skin 
would attract any one's attention. He had then 
been nearly ten years entirely blind; but he 
never spoke of his sight as lost: it was only 
very " defective." He was as happy as a little 
child. He could sing with a clear, melodious 
voice, and often went through favourite hymns 
and chants without the mistake of a word or a 
note. Sometimes in the stillness of the night his 
voice was heard singing a chant; and, to show 
that it was not a mere mechanical exercise, he 
was accustomed to say, " Isn't that a noble 
chant?" or, "What a beautiful hymn that is !" 

His mind dwelt on the most pleasing objects ; 



SIR HUMPHRY DAVY. 115 

as fragrant flowers, the music of birds or the rip- 
ple of water. His fondness for children, and their's 
for him, was noteworthy. He was accustomed 
to speak of his wife (who had been dead many 
years) as still a beloved and loving companion, 
offering nice things to her at the table ; and, when 
told she was not there, he would reply, "Well, 
I suppose she will be back in a minute or two." 

Such a green old age harmonized well with the 
upright and honourable life he had previously 
led, and with the immortal hopes which early 
faith in the gospel of the grace of God had 
inspired. 

Do you wonder that your Christian friends 
should be anxious to forearm you against the 
reverses and trials of which the providence of 
God forewarns you? You have heard of Sir 
Humphry Davy, the great philosopher and 
chemist. Distinguished among the men of his 
time for the extent and utility of his scientific 
researches and discoveries, he enjoyed an unusual 
share of whatever ministers to earthly enjoy- 
ment. But what is his testimony? "I envy no 
qualities of the mind or intellect in others, — nor 
genius nor power, wit nor fancy; but, if I could 



116 SIR HUMPHRY DAVY. 

choose what would be most delightful and, I 
believe, most useful to me, I should prefer a firm 
religious belief to every other blessing; for it 
makes life a discipline of goodness, creates new 
hopes when all earthly hopes vanish, and thrives 
over the decay, the destruction of existence ; it is 
the most gorgeous of all lights ; awakens life in 
death, and from corruption and ashes calls out 
beauty and everlasting glory." 

Happy they who are seasonably armed for the 
good fight of faith, that they may lay hold on 
eternal life and plant their feet on the "Rock 
that is higher than" they, before the winds blow 
and the floods roar ! 



LIFE IN PROSPECT. 117 



CHAPTEK IV. 

A soliloquy — The true end of life — Two classes of facts, and 
representative cases — The sea-bird. 

Some of you may, perhaps, regard what you 
hear from the pulpit and from Christian friends 
as all very true and very good, but still as quite 
theoretical. You ask yourself, " What are the facts 
of my present being? A bright morning opens 
upon me. The air is filled with the aroma of 
flowers and the music of birds and insects. My 
life would 'go a-Maying with nature, hope and 
poesy.' It would 

' flash along 
O'er airy cliffs and glittering sands, 
Like those trim skiffs, unknown of yore, 
On windy lakes and rivers wide, 
That ask no aid of sail or oar, 
That fear no spite of wind or tide.' 

Must I be denied what bees and birds enjoy? 
It is indeed a beautiful world, say what we will; 
and, for my part, I can see no harm in making the 
most of it." And this is the very thing we would 



118 STANDARD OF VALUE. 

have our young and gay friends do : — "Make the 
most of it" 

Suppose you had an inch of candle by which 
to do a winter evening s work, or a pound of 
bread, or a pint of water, upon which to subsist as 
you cling to a piece of a wreck and float upon 
the mountain-billows till you are descried by a 
passing vessel or drifted to land : you would learn 
what it means to "make the most of a thing T 
"Would you ask how much time you might waste 
and still have enough of the remnant of your 
candle left to enable you to accomplish your 
work, or how much of your little store of pro- 
vision you might consume and yet sufficient 
remain to last till your deliverance comes ? Or 
would you not more wisely say, "I have a 
certain and , momentous work to do in an un- 
certain time. I have to act in view of a possible 
exigency as if it were a present reality. It may 
be that my candle will be consumed just one 
moment before my task is done; and that one 
moment I will redeem now. It may be that a 
single crumb of bread or drop of water will 
sustain me at the very crisis of my danger; and 
I will count that as its value now." 



FACTS OF LIFE. 119 

And is it not so with life ? Is its only or chief 
purpose to eat, drink and be merry? Is its 
highest or purest enjoyment that which springs 
from exuberant health and spirits ? May not 
these gifts of heavenly kindness be welcomed 
with joy and gladness, and yet be improved for a 
better end than the gratification of sense or the 
pursuit of pleasure and excitement ? 

There are other facts of life not less real and 
obvious than the joys of youth and health. There 
is a peace with God that passeth all understanding. 
There is a hope full of immortality. There is a 
joy with which a stranger intermeddleth not. 
Surely he makes not the most of life who neglects 
to prepare himself for its trials and reverses. He 
is not a wise navigator who does not provide for 
the perils of a voyage as well as for its pleasures. 

It has been beautifully said that "it is the 
privilege of a child of God to rejoice even in 
tribulation. When his sorrows are heaviest, his 
joy in God is purest. Like some birds of which 
naturalists tells us, whose plumage is too cum- 
brous to fly against a strong wind, and therefore 
they soar above its range : so the elements which 
seem hostile to the Christian's progress only in- 



120 FACTS OF LIFE. 

vigorate him to seek and obtain a region nearer 
the throne of his covenant God and Saviour." 

You are, doubtless, familiar with records of the 
emotions with which persons in various grades of 
society and differing widely in education, intel- 
lectual endowments and moral qualities, have re- 
viewed life and contemplated its close. I am 
not particularly partial to biography as an exhibi- 
tion of human character. It is only on the in- 
spired page that we have perfectly candid and 
reliable specimens of it ; and, indeed, we can expect 
them nowhere else. But, as we have a divine war- 
rant for testing the tree by its fruits, we can judge 
of the wisdom of a course of conduct, or of the 
soundness of a principle, by its results. There is 
no man who, in his sober senses, would deliberately 
prefer to lead a useless and vicious life, — none who 
would rather live, in the remembrance of his race, 
as Benedict Arnold than as George Washington. 

Multitudes leave the world without any oppor- 
tunity or power to reflect or to anticipate. They 
" die and make no sign." Others contemplate an 
exchange of worlds as a destiny, and submit to 
death as they do to a drought or storm. Many 
are filled with terror — not always, nor perhaps 



FAITH. 121 

generally, from the apprehension of evil ; but there 
is something appalling to their minds in the idea 
of closing one's eyes forever on this sunlit, busy, 
beautiful world, with at best but a vague and dim 
impression of what awaits them in the next. 
That remarkable expression upon the dying lips 
of one of our most distinguished statesmen,* 
"This is the last of earth!" gives us a vivid 
idea of the eventful transition. The last mo- 
ment in time ! The first moment in eternity ! 

But oftentimes the emotions are more definite, 
and afford us unequivocal evidence of the value 
of a Christian hope. Whatever may be said of 
the influence of physical causes in accounting for 
the tranquillity and even ecstasy with which this 
momentous change is sometimes attended, it will 
not be denied that in a multitude of cases it is 
the result of Christian faith. Like the child 
leaping joyfully into a dark cavern from which 
she heard a father's voice telling her that he was 
there to receive her in his arms, they have wel- 
comed the summons and embraced the messenger 
as an angel of mercy. 



* J. Q. Adams. 
11 



122 THE LAWYER. 

Many years ago I was intimately acquainted 
with a man of uncommon intellectual powers and 
social qualities, which endeared him to a large 
circle of friends. He had keen wit; was a close 
observer of character ; courteous in his manners : 
he was without a personal enemy in the world. His 
parents were people of simple but fervent piety ; 
and so were most of his immediate connections. 
He was bred a lawyer ; but his circumstances were 
such as to exempt him from the necessity of pur- 
suing his profession for a livelihood; and this, 
unhappily, left him, for much of the time, with- 
out systematic employment. He was accustomed 
from childhood to attend public worship, and 
continued the practice — though not regularly — 
when he became a man. His social disposition 
proved a snare; and he fell into the vice of in- 
temperance, by which so many strong men have 
been cast down and destroyed. 

In the meridian of life he was seized with 
a pulmonary affection, which defied medical skill; 
and he slowly sank into the grave. I was glad 
of opportunities to minister to his comfort by 
watching with him two or three nights towards 
the end of his illness. On each of these occa- 



THE LAWYER. 123 

sions he was in good spirits, — made a jest of the 
emaciation of his limbs, and betrayed no appre- 
hension in view of the change which was ob- 
viously near. A few days previous to his death, 
however, this state of mind was entirely reversed. 
A horror of great darkness came over him. His 
Christian friends hoped that such a sense of his 
guilt and helplessness might be vouchsafed to 
him as would lead him to "the Rock that was 
higher than he ;" and they watched with sleepless 
anxiety and prayed with earnest importunity for 
some token of mercy. But he still wandered in 
the wilderness where there was no way. A sis- 
ter's gentle voice inquired if he felt no relief; his 
uniform reply, given in broken and despairing ac- 
cents, was, "Not a ray of hope yet!" "Not a 
ray of hope yet!" 

Among his near relatives was an uncle, a patri- 
arch in years and appearance as well as in piety, 
who resided in a distant city. On one occasion 
the silence of the chamber was disturbed by an 
exclamation from the sick man, who seemed to 
have been musing upon the dreary hopelessness 
of his condition : — " I used to laugh at Uncle L's 
prayers; but I would give the world for an interest in 



124 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN. 

them now." In this state of fearful apprehension 
and despondency the poor man went down to the 
grave, — the very last intelligible words he uttered 
being, u Not a ray of hope yet !" 

Taking from this melancholy picture the im- 
pression which it is well fitted to give of the 
terrible dreariness and dismay with which a soul, 
(to human appearance) unsanctified by the spirit 
of holiness, approaches the grave, we gladly turn 
from it, but not from the presence of death. 

Directly before me in the church where I was 
accustomed to worship was a family that inte- 
rested me before I became personally acquainted 
with them. One of the young ladies, who was 
then perhaps fifteen or sixteen, attracted my 
attention. She was constant in her place, re- 
markably modest in her manners and scrupulously 
tasteful in her dress. Her older sister was a 
teacher in a Sunday-school with which I was also 
connected ; and through her I was introduced to 
the family. 

The mother was originally a member of the 
Society of Friends. The father was a rigid 
Scotch Presbyterian. The eldest daughter be- 
came a professor of religion early in her career 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN. 125 

as a teacher, and adorned her profession. But 
her sister was not so inclined. 

I well remember that at one of my earliest 
visits to the family she came into the room to 
excuse her sister, who was quite indisposed. She 
was all ready to step into the carriage that was 
expected every moment to take her to a bridal 
party ; and I have rarely seen a more attractive 
object. Her complexion, features and figure, her 
perfectly chaste and simple apparel and her 
graceful motion combined to form a picture of 
loveliness seldom surpassed. 

Two or three years after this her mother died, 
and the hue of her w 7 orldly life was sadly changed ; 
but not so much as to divert her from a pursuit 
of its pleasures. Then her health failed. I had 
in the mean time seen much of her, and had 
been enabled to gain some measure of her con- 
fidence. . Her sister married and removed to a 
Western city. She had new T cares and responsi- 
bilities, and with them came new trials. She 
had now learned that life has higher ends than 
enjoyment or excitement, and to discharge her 
duties in the sphere to which she was called was 

evidently her prevailing desire. Her conscientious- 

11* 



126 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN. 

ness was exquisitely sensitive. To do right, to act 
from pure motives, to be governed by just prin- 
ciples in every thing, she sought and strove with 
commendable earnestness. I had frequent inter- 
views with her in her seasons of illness and de- 
pression. She was teachable as a little child, and 
seemed always grateful for any attempt to solve 
her difficulties or shed light upon her path. Her 
questions were evidently the result of study and 
reflection, and, while very simple and natural, 
plainly indicated the current of her thoughts. 
She was (I had almost said) morbidly distrustful 
of herself, and especially reluctant to express any 
religious emotions, through fear that they might 
be transient or give promise of what would never 
be realized. A public profession of religion often 
occurred to her as a duty; but she shrunk from 
the responsibilities which such a step seemed to 
her to involve. Her removal to another part of 
the country deprived me for a time of all oppor- 
tunity to watch the developement of her Christian 
character, except as an occasional letter disclosed 
it; but she became an active, earnest, uncom- 
promising disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, and 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN. 127 

yielded all her powers of body and mind to his 

/ 
service. 

I saw her occasionally after she took up the 
cross, and never without having my convictions 
of her elevated piety confirmed. But her earthly 
service was to be brief and her crown to be early 
won. 

The last time we met, her health was greatly 

impaired and she had come to P for medical 

advice. The nature of her disease was not at 
first fully apprehended ; and, though some alarm- 
ing symptoms were detected, she was cheerful 
and hopeful. For an account of her homeward 
journey and the incidents which followed, I was 
indebted to her sister and dearest earthly friend. 

*•*.*.« By the good providence of God, we 
reached home on Saturday morning, not quite 

three weeks from the time we left P . You 

cannot conceive of dear A.'s rapture at being 
once more in the bosom of her beloved family. 
It seemed to give her weary spirit such new 
energy that we were almost deluded into the 
belief that she might be spared to us many 
years. But an immediate return of all her dis- 
tressing symptoms and increased debility warned 



128 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN. 

us that her improvement had not been radical. 
Still, we did not anticipate so speedy a blight of 
our hopes. She still took her daily walk, still 
rode on horseback occasionally, — sometimes saw 
her friends and smiled upon them all. She still 
gathered her little Sunday-school children around 
her, that she might not lose her hold upon them 
if she should ever be able to resume her duties 
as a teacher. Only two Sabbaths before her 
final illness was her seat vacant in the house of 
prayer. My heart told me that sickness must 
have made deep inroads upon her strength, or she 
would have been still there. 

"Very suddenly after a ride on horseback she 
went to her bed in excruciating pain, and for 
nearly three weeks suffered tortures which I will 
not pain you by describing. They were fearful 
and unremitting, exhausting even those who only 
witnessed them. But no one heard her murmur 
or say, 'It is more than I can bear.' Again 
and again, she said, 'Pray for me. That only 
brings relief.' 

" On Saturday evening she expressed a desire 
that if she should be living the next morning, 
public prayers might be requested in her behalf 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN. 129 

that she might retain her reason to the close ; but 
she suddenly checked herself, saying, ' Shall I 
dictate to my heavenly Father? His will be 
done in this and in all things. Pray only that I 
may be perfectly submissive to that.' 

" On Sunday evening she said, in a feeble voice, 
c It is almost over.' And to the inquiry, i How 
does your faith endure?' she replied, in broken 
words and with a most painful effort, yet with 
perfectly characteristic meekness, ' You know I 
never had the assurance which many enjoy; but 
I believe Jesus will be with me to the end.' 

"The two following days her little strength 
failed rapidly ; and on the afternoon of Tuesday 
she took an affecting leave of us all in the ex- 
pectation of an immediate release. She rallied, 
however, and a paroxysm of acute pain seemed 
to give her supernatural energy. She continued 
giving minute directions to five of us, who, for 
hours, took turns to hold her in our arms, — the 
only position in which she could find a moment's 
respite. Shortly before noon, in a distinct, 
energetic tone, she called us each by name, tell- 
ing us what to do. She said to me, as I was 

holding her head and shoulders, ' Now give me a 
i 



130 THE TRIUMPH. 

drink.' I did so. She held the glass, drank its 
contents, passed it back to me, and in less than a 
minute, as I gazed intently into her agonized 
face, that look of agony was changed, as by a 
supernatural power, into a smile of rapture. Her 
up-turned eye, as it quickly closed on all earthly 
objects, seemed to have caught a glimpse of 
heaven. The weary head sunk heavily on my 
bosom. Then there was a gentle sigh ; another, 
and another, still more gentle, passed her lips, 
and then all was silent ! I felt for the moment 
a thrill of delight. I seemed to have accompanied 
the departing soul of my beloved sister to the 
very gates of the celestial city, and could almost 
hear the fluttering of angels' wings as they came 
to welcome her ransomed spirit to their as- 
sembly." * * * To her it was not 

"So much even as the lifting of a latch; — 
Only a step into the open air 
Out of a tent already luminous 
With light which shines through its transparent walls." 

" That clime is not like this dull clime of our's. 

All, all is brightness there ; 
A sweeter influence breathes around its flowers, 

And a far milder air. 
No calm below is like that calm above ; 
No region here is like that realm of love. 



FACTS. 131 

Earth's softest spring ne'er shed so soft a light 
Earth's brightest summer never shone so bright. 

"That sky is not like this sad sky of our's, 

Tinged with earth's change and care ! 
No shadow dims it, and no rain-cloud lowers, 

No broken sunshine there ! 
One everlasting stretch of azure pours 
Its starless splendour o'er those sinless shores ; 
For there Jehovah shines with heavenly ray ; 
There Jesus reigns, dispensing endless day 1" 

I am sure you will not doubt that, as a matter 
of fact, there was a prop to the spirit of my young 
friend, which faith supplied and which proved it- 
self adequate to extraordinary emergencies. Nor 
is it any less a matter of fact that for want of 
this sustaining principle the entrance of my 
other friend to the valley of the shadow of death 
was shrouded in appalling darkness. You will 
not understand me to say or to believe that, in 
the absence of other evidence, the emotions ex- 
hibited in the hour of death are reliable indica- 
tions that the "heart is right in the sight of 
God." But it is not less in accordance with his 
providence than with his word, that, while " the 
righteous hath hope in his death," the " wicked 
should be driven away in his wickedness." 

That you have vigorous health and overflowing 



132 FACTS. 

spirits, that the world has attractions, and that 
life is given us to enjoy, are your facts. That 
health and spirits are transient, that worldly 
pleasure soon palls upon the sense, and that a 
life devoted to it ends in unutterable disappoint- 
ment, are my facts. I set before you two repre- 
sentative cases, and ask you to decide calmly, for 
yourselves, which commends itself to your judg- 
ment for imitation. Looking at it (as you would 
feel bound to look at any question of less absorb- 
ing interest) with due regard to the bearings of 
your decision upon the broadest and most mo- 
mentous relations of your whole existence, which 
strikes you as the path of safety and true happi- 
ness ? — the enjoyment of the present at the risk 
of the endless future, or a preparation for the 
endless future at the sacrifice (if need be) of the 
fleeting present ? You know the story of the two 
men who were sitting by the wayside, when one 
derided the other for his needless concern about 
the life to come. To condemn the folly of his 
comrade out of his own mouth, he called a school- 
child and offered him his choice of a sugar-plum 
or a guinea. The child eagerly seized the sugar- 
plum. 



THE SEA-BIRD. 133 

" Tut-tut, there, you little fool ! Don't you 
know the guinea will get you a bag full of sugar- 
plums ?" 

"Not a greater fool than yourself/' said his 
companion, "if you would forego the joys of an 
eternal future for the sake of a moment's present 
gratification !" 

For myself, I cannot doubt that it is the part 
of true wisdom to anticipate the season of dark- 
ness and tempest, and climb, while I have light 
and strength, to the " Rock that is higher than I." 
I cannot doubt that even my present joys will be 
brightened and purified by connecting them in- 
timately with those which await the redeemed 
soul when its hour of release from sin and sorrow 
shall strike. Beautifully has this thought been 
expressed by the poet : — ■ 



1 I've watch' d the sea-bird calmly glide 
Unruffled o'er the ocean tide : 
Unscared she heard the waters roar 
In foaming breakers on the shore ; 
Fearless of ill, herself she gave 
To rise upon the lifting wave, 
Or sink, to be a while unseen, 
The undulating swells between : 
Till, as the evening shadows grew, 
Noiseless, unheard, aloft she flew. 
12 



134 THE SEA-BIRD. 

While soaring to her rock-built nest 
A sunbeam lighted on her breast, — 
A moment glitter'd in mine eye, 
Then quickly vanish'd through the sky. 

While by the pebbly beach I stood, 

That sea-bird, on the waving flood, 

Pictured to my enraptured eye 

A soul at peace with God : — Now high, 

Now low, upon the gulf of life 

Raised or depress'd, in peace or strife, 

Calmly she kens the changeful wave. 

She dreads no storm — she fears no grave ; 

To her the world's tumultuous roar 

Dies like the echo on *the shore. 

1 Father ! thy pleasure all fulfil, 

I yield me to thy sovereign will ; 

Let earthly comforts ebb or rise, 

Tranquil on thee my soul relies/ 

Then, as advance the shades of night, 

Long plumed, she takes her heavenward flight; 

But, as she mounts, I see her fling 

A beam of glory from her wing, — 

A moment — to my aching sight 

Lost in the boundless fields of light V 7 



PKAYER. 135 



CHAPTER V. 

What is prayer f — Vague ideas — Prayer natural — Its power — Not 
only a duty, but a privilege — Remarkable answers to prayer — The 
tenor of Christ's earthly ministry as bearing on the efficacy of 
prayer — Prerequisites to effectual prayer — Reflex influences upon 
the suppliant — Simplicity of the duty — Value of intercessory 
prayer. 

That I did not reply at once to the very natural 

and sensible question which Miss asked 

when we were discussing the' duty of prayer, the 
other evening, was because I wished to enter a 
little more fully into the subject than our time then 
allowed ; and even now a volume would be required 
for what must be condensed into a brief chapter. 

Lexicographers tell us that prayer is a a petition 
to God." This definition is as satisfactory as that 
of other terms of the same class, — as, "God, the 
supreme being," u Man, a human being," or, " Love, 
an affection of the heart." When the Lord said to 
Ananias concerning Saul, " Behold, he prayeth," 
there was reference to a state of mind in the new 



136 PRAYER. 

convert which prompted him to pray. As in the 
case of a person taken from the water apparently 
dead, the exclamation " Behold, he breathes !" 
would indicate the restoration of the vital func- 
tions generally, and not respiration merely, so the 
supernatural annunciation respecting the converted 
persecutor, " Behold, he prayeth !" denoted a com- 
plete revolution in his moral and spiritual nature, 
of which prayer was the significant token. 

There is no duty more plainly and frequently 
inculcated in Holy Scripture than prayer, and 
perhaps none that draws more largely on faith for 
its proper discharge. 

"All philosophic objections to the efficacy of 
prayer are met and answered by an appeal to 
fact. The God of the Bible is the hearer of 
prayer ; the history of the Church is an exposi- 
tion of its value : in the whole compass of divinely- 
appointed means it occupies the highest place and 
possesses the mightiest efficacy." 

We have not only the positive command to pray 
repeated thousands of times and in every variety 
of form, but there are numberless explicit testi- 
monies to the efficacy of prayer in specific cases. 
And, in addition to all this, the inspired page is 



PRAYER. 137 

full of motives and incentives to prayer, which 
even a little child can apprehend and appreciate. 

The apostasy did not break the bond which 
unites the spirit of man w T ith the Spirit of G od his 
Creator. Though a prodigal, he was still a son ; 
and the mysterious annunciation which was made 
to him w T hen he forfeited the divine favour, that, 
though lost, he might be redeemed, kept alive a 
spark of hope. So complete, however, was his 
alienation from God that of himself he could 
have had no disposition to return even to ask for- 
giveness ; nor, indeed, was there any way by 
which he could return, save that which infinite 
grace provided in the mission and atonement of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. Still, in the very consti- 
tution of our nature, there is a sense of want and 
dependence. Not more instinctively does feeble 
infancy stretch out its hand for support and 
guidance than the human soul, when made con- 
scious of its darkness and defilement, reaches after 
something to enlighten and purify it. A scriptural 
view of the nature and attributes of the Supreme 
Being, his eternity, his omnipotence, his holiness 
and his benevolence, — a consideration of the re- 
quirements of his perfect law, — and the slightest 

12* 



138 PRAYER. 

glimpse of the turpitude and odiousness of sin, — 
cannot fail to produce in* a thoughtful mind the 
deepest emotions. 

Can the image of God be restored to my soul? 
Can a creature of his be happy while alienated 
from him ? Were I like hini, would not all my 
desires, affections and dispositions be coincident 
with his perfect will ? And would not this be the 
highest condition of happiness of which a finite 
being is capable ? To be like Christ is to be like 
God ; for Christ, the Son of man, is God manifest 
in the flesh, — "the brightness of the Father's 
glory and the express image of his person," 
" in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily." To follow Christ is to be like him. To 
do whatsoever he has commanded is to be his 
disciple indeed. The life of such a one is " hid 
with Christ in God." But in order to this he 
must have become a new creature. " For the 
natural [or unrenewed] man perceiveth not the 
things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know 
them, because they are spiritually discerned." 
Christ came a light into the world, that whoso- 
ever belie veth in him should not abide in dark- 
ness. What I need, and what you need, is faith 



PRAYER. 139 

to believe in Christ ; and faith is the gift of God. 
Can I obtain it? Ask, and ye shall receive. 
Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be 
opened unto you. This is the reply of Scripture 
to our inquiry. But I need faith in order to 
pray. My heavenly Father knows this ; and the 
very conviction of this need is his gracious work, 
prompting me to fall on my knees, in all my weak- 
ness and sin, and say, " Lord, I believe : help 
thou mine unbelief!" " God be merciful to me, a 
sinner !" 

The power of prayer is beautifully set forth by 
one who evidently felt it to be something more 
than a required duty : — 

" There is an eye that never sleeps 

Beneath the wing of night; 
There is an ear that never shuts 

When sink the beams of light. 
There is an arm that never tires 

When human strength gives way ; 
There is a love which never fails 

When earthly loves decay. 
That eye is fix'd on seraph throngs ; 

That arm upholds the sky ; 
That ear is filPd with angel-songs ; 

That love is throned on high. 
But there's a power which man can wield 

When mortal aid is vain, 
That eye, that arm, that love, to reach, 

That listening ear to gain. 



140 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 

That power is prater, which soars on high, 

Through Jesus, to the throne, 
And moves the hand that moves the world, 

To bring salvation down." 

Without entering into the philosophy of prayer, 
I would affectionately urge it upon you not only 
as a duty, but as a privilege of inestimable value. 
However impossible it may be for us to conceive 
that the counsels of the Infinite God can be in- 
fluenced by the prayers of his creatures, we may 
be assured that unless there were some very im- 
portant results to ourselves and to our own happi- 
ness, involved in the observance of the command 
a to pray and not to faint," it would not have been 
so prominently prescribed nor so constantly urged. 

If your attention has not been already drawn 
particularly to it, you will be surprised to find how 
numerous are the prayers recorded in Scripture, 
and the answers to them, — as if God would teach 
us to dismiss all doubts and cavils on the subject 
by just putting before us the facts. I will cite but 
two or three ; and you can easily multiply them at 
pleasure. 

Manasseh, King of Judah, fell into the hands of 
the King of Assyria and was carried a prisoner to 
Babylon. And when he was in this affliction he 



ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 141 

besought the Lord his God, and prayed unto him, 
and the Lord heard his prayer, and brought him 
again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. 

The brief prayer of Elijah when he would vin- 
dicate the claim of Jehovah to the exclusive wor- 
ship of his creatures in opposition to the prophets 
of Baal, was answered on the spot; and the pre- 
valence of his prayer for dearth and then for rain 
is referred to by an apostle as a warrant for any 
man to expect the like return to a prayer offered 
in the like spirit. 

The prayer of Daniel is recorded in full by the 
pen of inspiration, and the answer was given 
before the supplication w x as finished. Paul's thrice- 
repeated prayer was answered graciously, though 
not in the specific form he contemplated; and the 
memorials .of godly men and women in all ages 
abound with evidence that "the effectual fervent 
prayer of a righteous man availeth much." 

A young friend of mine once said to me, " I 
have prayed every day for more than a month 
that God would convert my soul ; and I am satis- 
fied it's of no use to try any longer." It was 
suggested to her that if she had any just concep- 
tion of what she was asking for, she would not 



142 INEFFECTUAL PRAYER. 

have been disposed to give up so soon. Suppose 
you were in a house or ship that was on fire: 
would you so readily desist from an effort to save 
yourself, and sit calmly down to await the issue ? 
Would you not rather run distractedly from end 
to end of the ship, or from one opening to another 
of the house, seeking a way of escape from the 
devouring flame at any hazard ? 

Suppose it were an earthly father whose dis- 
pleasure you had incurred. His affectionate heart 
has been deeply wounded by your disobedience 
and ingratitude. He still treats you as his child; 
but there is no smile of love, no complacent 
regard, no warm sympathy between you. The 
whole complexion of your life is changed. No- 
thing in the house or in the garden, or in any of the 
scenes or pursuits of your life, is as it used to be, 
— and all because you have forfeited your father's 
favour. Weary and wretched, you at length re- 
solve to seek reconciliation. The first oppor- 
tunity for an interview is eagerly seized. You 
confess your fault and ask forgiveness, but are 
surprised and disappointed by the result. His 
apparent indifference is quite inexplicable. He 
seems to doubt your sincerity and to receive your 



INEFFECTUAL PRAYER. 143 

professions of penitence and love with distrust. 
You withdraw, and brood over your repulse till 
you are ready to justify your unfilial conduct and 
to reproach your father with injustice. All this 
time his treatment of you is unchanged. With 
affectionate care he watches over you ; but his face 
wears the same look of disapprobation, and his 
very kindness upbraids your conduct more severely 
than w r ords. Again you confess your fault and 
beg his forgiveness, but with no better success, 
and finally conclude that further effort is useless, 
— a reconciliation is impracticable. What, in such a 
case, would be the judgment of others as to the depth 
of your sorrow or the ardour of your affection ? If 
in your first interview you had refused to go from 
your father's presence till you were forgiven or 
till you had received from him a smile such as once 
expressed his love, — had you evinced a grief 
and shame which nothing but a restoration to 
his favour would remove, — if, in a word, you had 
imitated the example of the woman in Simon's 
house, who in meek silence bathed her Saviour's 
feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs 
of her head, — think you his warm and tender heart 
would have felt no relentings towards you? Do 



144 INEFFECTUAL PRAYER. 

yon doubt that he would have clasped you in his 
arms, saying, " Be of good cheer, my daughter. I 
am convinced of your penitence and love. You 
have my hearty forgiveness and blessing" ? 

And will our heavenly Father be satisfied with 
less unequivocal tokens of our contrition and sin- 
cerity ? The very fact that you relinquished your 
suit at all, and especially that you relinquished it 
with so little compunction, shows that either your 
faith is very defective or your desire of forgive- 
ness and favour very weak. " Prayer is the 'Lord, 
save us — we perish' of drowning Peter ; and you 
will not say that you offered it. Nor was it ever 
offered and denied." 

I do not know how far I succeeded in setting 
before her the probable cause of her failure ; but 
she afterwards became a professed follower of 
Christ. 

Prayer is the universal language of dependent 
creatures; and those who neglect it, or affect to 
contemn it as a religious duty, nevertheless resort 
to it instinctively when in anguish or peril. But 
how mean and basely ungrateful it is to share 
profusely in the gifts of God's providence and yet 
not recognise his liberal hand ! — to be protected 



PRAYER. 145 

and preserved by him every moment, and yet 
never acknowledge our dependence or commit our- 
selves to his keeping until all other resources fail, 
— and even then only while danger impends ! 

We often mistake the nature and design of 
prayer. In our intercourse with God, words and 
actions are of no account. We may stretch forth 
the hands and lift the eyes towards heaven and 
utter words of deep devotion, and it may be all a 
vain show. " Man looketh on the outward ap- 
pearance; but the Lord looketh on the heart." 
The faintest emotion of love, the weakest effort of 
faith, the feeblest struggle for the mastery over a 
sinful appetite or passion, is marked by him as 
promptly and distinctly as the anguish of a weep- 
ing Peter or the triumphant exultation of a mar- 
tyred Stephen. 

Our heavenly Father is not spying out our sins 
and follies that he may have somewhat against us. 
We thrust them into his sight with a carelessness 
that would provoke, to our hopeless condemnation, 
the anger of any earthly monarch. In all our 
wanderings from duty and happiness his pitying 
eye is upon us, and his hand is stretched out all 

K 13 



146 PRAYER. 

the day long to encourage and uphold the first, 
feeblest motions of our return to him. 

Let me commend to you, in this connection, a 
careful review of the footsteps of our divine 
Redeemer during the three years of his incarnate 
ministry, with special reference to his tender com- 
passion for sinners and his readiness to receive 
and relieve all that sought his help. Point, 
if you can, to a single instance in which the 
faintest supplication for his pity and help was 
unheard or unanswered. And, at the same time, 
mark the divine tenderness with which he regarded 
those who were neglected, despised and condemned 
by their fellow-men. Study the case of the Syro- 
phenician and Samaritan women; of the two blind 
men in the suburbs of Jericho ; of the family at 
Bethany; of the sleeping disciples in the garden; 
of the treacherous Peter, and of Mary at the 
sepulchre, and then reflect that He who gave to 
these scenes and incidents all their significancy 
and glory is revealed to us as "God manifest in the 
flesh." And, though removed from corporeal sight, 
he was the same yesterday and is the same to-day 
that he was eighteen centuries ago, and that he will 
be forever. 



PRAYER. 147 

In prayer, then, you are left to no vain, mythical 
object of worship. Christ left this world in a 
body like ours, and will so come in like manner as 
he was seen to go into heaven ; and when we kneel 
in true worship we may feel assured that we have, 
in advance, His sympathy who is our elder Brother, 
— our prevailing Intercessor; and if we ask and 
receive not, it must be that we ask amiss. 

Perhaps it may never have occurred to you that 
the disposition to enter into your closet and to 
shut the door and pray to your Father which is 
in secret is an unequivocal token of divine grace. 
And if he is more willing to hear than you are to 
ask; more ready to bestow the Holy Spirit (the 
chiefest blessing, because it includes all others) 
than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their 
children, no one can repair to his mercy-seat in 
vain. 

" All night the lonely suppliant pray'd, 
All night his earnest crying made, 
Till, standing by his side at morn, 
The tempter said, in bitter scorn, 
1 Oh, peace ! what profit do you gain 
From empty words and babblings vain ? 
" Come, Lord, oh, come/' you cry alway ; 
You pour your heart out night and day ; 
Yet still no murmur of reply, 
No voice that answers, " Here am &' * 



148 PRAYER. 

"Then sank that stricken heart in dust! 
That word had wither'd all its trust ; 
No strength retained it now to pray, 
While Faith and Hope had fled away. 
And ill that mourner now had fared, 
When by the tempter's art ensnared, 
But that at length beside his bed 
His sorrowing angel stood, and said, 
* Doth it repent thee of thy love, 
That never now is heard above 
Thy prayer, — that now not any more 
It knocks at heaven's gate as before V 

"I am cast out. I find no place, 
No hearing, at the throne of grace : 
' Come, Lord, oh, come/ I cry alway ; 
I pour my heart out night and day, 
Yet never e'en till now have won 
The answer, ' Here am I, my son.' 

"0 dull of heart! enclosed doth lie 
In each * Come, Lord/ a ' Here am I.' 
Thy love, thy longing, are not thine, — 
Reflections of a love divine : 
Thy very prayer to thee was given 
Itself a messenger from heaven." 

We are never to forget that to secure an 
answer to our prayers there must be in the sup- 
pliant's heart an aversion to all sin, and a willing- 
ness to do whatever is needful to make the bestow- 
ment of the blessing asked consistent with the prin- 
ciples of the divine government. The child cannot 
claim or expect the father's forgiveness while cherish- 



PRAYER. 149 

ing a purpose to repeat the offensive act; yet by 
entreaties and tears his forgiveness may be won. 
Not so with our heavenly Father. All things are 
naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we 
have to do ; and if we regard iniquity in our hearts, 
we are forewarned that the Lord will not hear us. 

You will readily perceive that a tractable spirit 
must also attend a successful plea for mercy. The 
child asks his parent's forgiveness with an ill 
grace while indisposed to do a parent's will. The 
temper of our minds has quite as much to do with 
the success of our prayers as the words of our 
mouths and the meditations of our hearts. An 
earnest struggle with some besetting sin, an 
honest effort to suppress some selfish or worldly 
desire, will give wonderful fervency to our prayers. 
Indeed, it is in making such efforts that we learn 
our weakness and are thereby prompted to repair 
to the Strong for strength. 

A little incident in one of my daily walks 
served, by its very simplicity, to impress this 
thought upon my mind. A child, three years old 
perhaps, was attempting to trundle a rudely-made, 
diminutive hoop; but her driving-stick was too long, 
and interfered with her dress, which, in running, 

13* 



150 PRAYER. 

was thrown back by the wind. She laid her hoop 
down, and, putting the stick under her feet and 
raising the ends of it with her little hands, she 
tried to break it. But it was green, and would 
only bend. Just as I came up to her she had 
made a last desperate effort, but without better 
success. I stopped, and she turned her flushed 
face up towards me, but said nothing. "Your 
stick is too long, my little girl, isn't it ? Let me 
shorten it for you." She was still silent, but 
passed the stick to me. She watched me with 
profound deference as I slowly took off my glove, 
opened my knife and cut the stick in two, giving 
her the shortest piece; and with a single bound 
she was off in full chase of her hoop. It was the 
effort to help herself that convinced her of her weak- 
ness and led her to avail herself of offered aid. 

As I have often said to you, the benefit of 
prayer is all felt by the petitioner. God does not 
stand in need of any such recognition of his power 
and authority as our supplications imply. To 
earthly monarchs and governments such acknow- 
ledgments may be grateful and necessary; but 
our prayers to God are all and altogether for our 
benefit. They are not " needed to inform God of 



PRAYER. 151 

our wants, which are known to him ; nor necessary 
to move him to be more benevolent than he other- 
wise would be, for he is more willing to give than 
we are to receive ; but they are demanded as a 
method of honouring the ordinations of heaven, 
and as a means of bringing our own minds into a 
state of preparation for the reception of spiritual 
blessings." 

Under the Old Testament dispensation, patri- 
archal and prophetical, God revealed himself in 
various ways : — in dreams and visions of the night, 
as to Abraham and Jacob; in fire, tempest and 
smoke, as on Horeb and Sinai ; in a whirlwind, as 
to Job ; and by angels, as to Daniel and Ezekiel ; — 
but " in these last days he has spoken unto us by 
his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all 
things, by whom also he made the worlds." 
There can be no doubt, however, that under both 
dispensations the economy of grace is the same, 
and that the way of access to Jehovah which 
was open to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was that 
by w T hich apostles and martyrs and saints of later 
days have approached Him. The manifestation of 
God in the flesh fulfilled all things prefigured in 
the ancient covenant; and now we have the simple, 



152 PRAYER. 

faithful saying, (which is worthy of all accepta- 
tion,) " That Jesus Christ came into the world to 
save sinners ; and that whosoever believeth in him 
shall not perish, but have everlasting life." He is 
the mediator of the new covenant, — the way, the 
truth and the life. No man can go to the Father 
except by him ; but to go to him is to go to the 
Father, for he that hath seen him hath seen the 
Father. 

Did you ever carefully ponder that most wonder- 
ful language of the Apostle ? — " Our life is hid 
with Christ in God : so that when he who is our 
life shall appear, we also shall appear with him in 
glory." Just analyze these few words, and let 
your mind dwell calmly on their infinite import. 

Most mysteriously united in him are the Deity, 
the priest, the altar and the sacrifice. He is at 
once a Saviour, an Intercessor and a sovereign 
dispenser of the blessings which his own obedience 
and death purchased. How simple, direct and un- 
embarrassed is this new and living way! We 
have no need to ascend into heaven to bring 
Christ down from above, nor yet to go down into 
the deep to bring Christ up from the dead; for 
we have the word of faith, which teaches us that 



PRAYER. 153 

if we confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus and 
believe in the heart that God hath raised him from 
the dead, we shall be saved. The same Lord 
over all is rich unto all that call upon him in 
truth. 

The benefits of prayer result in no inconsiderable 
degree from the state of mind in which the true 
suppliant must be in order to his acceptance ; and 
hence there is quite as much truth as poetry in 
the familiar stanza : — 

' Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 
The Christian's native air, 
His watchword at the gates of death ; 
He enters heaven with prayer." 

And hence, too, we greatly err if w r e measure 
the success of our prayers by the direct answers 
to them. A wise earthly parent often denies a 
dutiful child's request with a view to bestowing a 
far greater favour in some other form ; and when 
we seek from our heavenly Father a particular 
blessing, the denial of it is no token that our 
prayer is rejected ; for if the temper in which we 
ask is what it should be, we cannot fail of an 
answer, and may safely trust to infinite wisdom 
and love to determine the form. 



154 INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 

Prayer brings the soul into immediate contact 
with the former of our bodies and the father of our 
spirits., from whom all good counsels, all holy 
desires and all just works do proceed. We think 
of Him whom we worship as the God of the spirits 
of all flesh ; and it is natural that, in seeking bless- 
ings for ourselves, we should seek the bestow- 
ment of similar blessings upon those of our kin- 
dred and friends whom we love and cherish as 
we do our own bodies. Holy Scripture presents 
numerous and emphatic exhortations to prayer 
and intercession for others; and various classes 
of persons are mentioned as particularly entitled 
to such remembrance. Did you ever seriously 
consider to what extent a righteous man's prayers 
may avail to bring down blessings upon others 
who are not even aware of their being offered? 
Is it not possible that, in answer to prayers 
offered years ago by those who may be now 
dwelling in the world of spirits, you have been 
exempted from temptations by which multitudes 
are overcome and destroyed, and are now sur- 
rounded with restraints and safeguards to protect 
you from a similar catastrophe ? Who knows 
how far the daily mercies which descend upon 



INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 155 

a thoughtless and thankless world — the rain and 
sunshine and fruitful seasons, exemption from 
pestilence, earthquake and flood, and the bands 
laid upon bloody and violent men — are in answer 
to the prayers of men of like passions with our- 
selves ? A godly spirit inhabiting some weak, 
deformed, or bed-ridden body in country-lane or 
city-alley may prevail with God to save or 
destroy, to help or hinder, in emergencies which 
involve the destinies of stately thrones and power- 
ful empires. 

In the appointments of a wise Providence, 
the most stupendous events are brought about 
by agencies and instruments so remote from 
the proximate cause that their connection with 
it may be utterly untraceable : so that the 
obscurest individual and the minutest incident 
may exert an influence on the order of events 
which no finite mind can measure or compute. 
The king's butler is commanded to provide a fat 
capon for his majesty's table. Scarcely any 
thing could be imagined of less importance to 
people outside of the palace. The capon is pro- 
vided. The fragment of a little bone finds its 
way into the king's throat and strangles him. 



156 SOCIAL PRAYER. 

His death is the signal for a revolution which 
involves a continent in the plagues and curses of 
war. 

The childlike submission of the soul to the will 
of its Father in heaven, which is characteristic of 
prayer, is not inconsistent with the most earnest 
supplication for needed blessings. It is as if one 
should say to an earthly parent, "My dear 
father, you know much better than I do what it 
would be right and proper for me to do ; and I 
would not ask any thing which it is not entirely 
in accordance with your views and plans to grant. 
I greatly desire the favour I am about to ask. I 
feel as if I could not be denied; but I am so 
sensible of my own incompetency to judge, and 
so confident of the wisdom and love which 
govern all your acts towards me, that I gladly 
submit the whole matter to you and will heartily 
acquiesce in your decision." 

Though the chief and most intimate communion 
of the soul with God is secret and personal, the 
duty and advantages of social prayer are plainly 
revealed. When a favour is to be sought from an 
earthly potentate, the larger the number who 
unite in seeking it, (other things being equal,) 



SOCIAL PRAYER. 157 

the more probable is the success of the petition. 
There is a special promise of the Saviour's pre- 
sence wherever two or three of his disciples are 
gathered together ; and the history of the early 
Christians is replete with evidence that they re- 
garded social prayer and praise as among the 
chief auxiliaries to growth in grace and in fer- 
vency of spirit. We cannot doubt that the daily 
sacrifice under the Jewish law, and the custom, 
at a later period, of resorting daily to the temple 
at the hour of prayer, so far as the service was 
spiritual and not formal, must have contributed 
to detach the mind and heart from the things 
of time and sense, and so have exerted a sensible, 
salutary influence on the current of life. Hence, 
the observance of a daily service of prayer, which 
still prevails in some portions of the Christian 
church, so far as the form is endued with spi- 
ritual life, is but the natural and spontaneous 
expression of a devout and earnest mind. The 
large measure of formality and insincerity that 
may be mingled with such services takes nothing 
from the duty and advantage of engaging in them 
on the part of those who are spiritually minded ; 

14 



158 SOCIAL PRAYER. 

nor does it, of itself, furnish any reason for dis- 
pensing with them. 

Of late years there seems to have been, in 
various Christian communities, an increasing con- 
viction of the efficacy of prayer; and, though 
many of the weaknesses and infirmities of our 
nature may be detected in incidental circum- 
stances, there can be no doubt that large acces- 
sions have been made to the army of the living 
God in answer to prayers of his people in their 
daily assemblages. 

The sublimit?/ of prayer never impressed me 
so much as when the Christian world was 
recently moved to one united and spontaneous 
offering of supplications to God for the salva- 
tion of our race. " The event was unique and 
unexampled. Nothing like it has occurred from 
the beginning of the world until now. That 
a little band of men in a remote province of 
India,* unknown by name except to a few 
persons, and carrying on a mission the very 
existence of which was to most equally unknown, 
should have been called to move the whole 

Lodiana. 



SOCIAL PRAYER. 159 

church to prayer, is so remarkable that it may 
well awaken the exclamation, i This is the finger 
of God!' Had the movement originated in some 
great gathering of representatives of the leading 
denominations of Christians, it might have been 
equally of God, though less manifestly the work 
of Him who is excellent in counsel and carries on 
his mighty plans in such a way that no flesh 
should glory in his presence." 

This simple voice from the desert was as 
though the prophetic announcement were fulfilled, 
which declares that "the inhabitants of one city 
shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to 
pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of 
Hosts : we will go also f and as though " the 
set time to favour Zion had come." " On the 
second Monday of January, 1860, at the rising 
of the sun, there began a series of meetings for 
prayer in the farthest East, which was kept up 
and carried round the world, with the advance of 
the luminary of day, to the farthest West ; and, 
ere prayer was concluded in the islands of the 
Pacific Ocean, the strain was again taken up by 
Christians in China; and thus, through all the 
hours of the week, continuous prayer was offered 



160 REPOSE. 

for the kingdom and glory of the Redeemer, in 
beautiful harmony with the inspired saying of 
the sweet singer of Israel in relation to the 
Messiah, his Son and Lord: — 'Prayer shall be 
made for him continually, and daily shall he be 
praised.' " 

Will you not be persuaded, then, to cultivate 
the spirit of prayer ? Many hours of sadness and 
darkness; days of weariness and nights of watch- 
ing may be appointed to you ; and who can be 
such a refuge and stay, such a helper and guide 
to you, as the everlasting God ? 

Those who have had the largest and fullest 
experience of the benefit and privilege of prayer 
know best what its power is to compose troubled 
thoughts and give rest and tranquillity to the 
weary and heavy-laden. The albatross is seen 
by navigators hundreds of miles from land. When 
"the gale is at its highest, and with difficulty 
the eye can pierce the atmosphere thick with 
driving sleet and foam, suddenly, through the 
contending elements, his shrill cry is heard above 
the storm, and he darts quickly by. Then, re- 
turning, he hovers for a while, now skirting over 
the breaking seas and through their crests; then. 






SECURITY. 161 

settling down on the bosom of some huge wave, 
with his head beneath his wing, he peacefully 
and gracefully sinks to rest, all unconscious of 
the fierce tumult raging about him." 

This outward life, with all its busy forms 
Whirling like flakes of snow in Alpine storms, 
Confuses, chills, and in a shifting grave 
Entombs the spirit that the Eternal gave; 
Yet look through these to Him. Undaunted strive 
Through drift and darkness, saving Faith alive, 
And he will be beside thee still, — uphold, 
Enlighten, cheer; with Love and Hope make bold, 
And, in worst hours of fear, before his eye 
The mountain ice and gulfs of snow shall fly ; 
Thou on his Rock shalt stand secure, and raise 
Thy wings towards heaven, to join its songs of praise. 



14* 



162 A QUESTION. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Our position as creatures of God — Our moral nature and relations 
— Perplexities — Obvious prevalence of law — The evidence of it 
specified — The moral sense — A perfect standard — An anomaly — 
Greater perplexities without a revelation than within it — Im- 

. pregnable truths — Natural and necessary inferences. 

The subject discussed at our last interview, and 
especially the question which was asked, — why- 
such religious truths as men must believe in order 
to be saved are not revealed so clearly that 
there could be no difference of opinion about them, 
— have occupied many of my thoughts. Other 
interesting inquiries grew out of the discussion, 
which I would like to pursue further if time 
allowed. As it is, without attempting to answer 
your question logically or theologically, I will 
simply state to you, as nearly as I can, some of 
the reasonings by which my own mind has been 
conducted to a satisfactory conclusion in respect 
to it. 

There are various starting-points for these 



SOLILOQUY. 163 

reasonings, — almost as various as the objects of 
sense. They may commence at one extreme 
with a pebble on the sea-shore, or at the other 
with the structure of the globe or the motions 
of the heavenly bodies ; or with the Bible, or 
with one's own consciousness ; but they will lead 
us to the same result. I will take the last — one's 
own consciousness — as my starting-point. 

I find myself a living, conscious being. On 
the morning of this day of , 18 — , 

I awoke from sleep, (the image of death,) as I 
have done every day for years ; and, being 

in possession of my usual physical and mental 
powers, I addressed myself to the business of the 
day. I look back, and some of the events of 
yesterday come to remembrance, — where I went, 
what I did, whom I saw, what I heard, what I 
left unfinished, and why. I look forward, and 
what requires prompt attention to-day is con- 
sidered, — an engagement to fulfil, a friend to see, 
an inquiry to make, a work to do. All this 
implies the powers of reflection and anticipation, — 
memory, hope, fear, regret and desire, — and in- 
volves relations to those around me. As a 
husband, I have duties and sympathies on which 



164 SOLILOQUY. 

the happiness of others is in no small measure 
suspended. My speech, my temper and my con- 
duct affect, more or less, the well-being of my 
wife. As a father, I have many and weighty 
obligations. Some of these, natural affection 
would prompt me to discharge, — such as to provide 
them food and raiment, shelter and education. 
But I have passions and inclinations which, if 
indulged, would lead to the neglect of my paternal 
and conjugal duties. These I feel bound to curb 
and repress, in order that my home may be 
virtuous and happy and my example safe and salu- 
tary. I have neighbours, also, with whom I must 
interchange kind offices. In their prosperity I 
am expected to rejoice, and in their reverses and 
distresses I am to manifest my sympathy and do 
what I can for their relief and comfort. In my 
transactions with them I am prompted by self- 
love to take all possible advantage for myself; 
but a doubt arises within me, (not of my seeking, 
but spontaneously,) whether this is right. Are 
not his interests as much to him as mine are to 
me? If my interest only is cared for in this 
matter, only his may be cared for in our next 



SOLILOQUY. 105 

transaction. Is there not some law to regulate 
our conduct towards each other ? 

I extend my view beyond my immediate 
neighbourhood. I am a citizen, — one of a large 
community. There are laws which I am expected 
to obey. They have been established, it may be, 
ages before I was born, — I may not know when, 
or by whom, or on what principles ; but still I am 
to obey them or suffer the prescribed penalty. 
These laws are for my protection as well as for 
my government. They restrain me from injuring 
my neighbour, but at the same time they forbid 
his injuring me. If we were both without law, 
we should then have only our own strength and 
skill for our protection : the weakest would be 
trampled upon, and, as it is among savage tribes 
or with the brute race, " might would make right." 

All these parties to whom I have referred — 
my wife, my children, my neighbours and my 
fellow-citizens — are endowed with life, capacities 
and susceptibilities similar to my own. We have 
like emotions of love and hate, joy and sorrow, hope 
and despair. To acquire wealth or distinction; 
to enjoy the pleasures of sense ; to gratify curi- 
osity ; to preserve or regain health ; to promote 



166 SOLILOQUY. 

the happiness and well-being of others : these are 
among the ends and objects which occupy the 
mind. But there are some points in the survey 
of the world around me that are very perplexing. 
I see monstrous oppression and fraud ; the wicked 
plot successfully against the just; violence and 
treachery triumph over truth and right ; innocence 
is overwhelmed in the consequences of guilt ; the 
godly perish in the midst of their days, while the 
corrupt and vile live to old age. The whole 
scene is one of apparent disorder and tumult and 
lawlessness. Yet still there are unequivocal 
indications of the existence of a controlling 
power. The sea, in its utmost fury, has never 
passed the bounds assigned to it; and the vio- 
lence of human passions has never been suffered 
to desolate the earth. Even death — the great 
destroyer — is restricted by an inexorable law, 
so that his conquests can never exceed a certain 
range. The population of the globe is not at 
one time ten hundred millions, then eight, or 
six, and then ten again. Though pestilence and 
war and famine make fearful havoc among some 
portions of the human family, there is evidently 
a compensating and regulating power in existence, 



SOLILOQUY. 1G7 

so that in a series of years the number is not 
essentially varied. 

I perceive, too, a wonderful uniformity not only 
in the births and deaths, but also in the sex, and 
in the general equality of the sexes, of succes- 
sive generations, indicating, as I must suppose, a 
uniform law by which these contingencies are 
governed ; and, whatever that law is, it is obviously 
anterior in date to the existence of its subjects. 

As another evidence of such a power, I notice 
that a limit is set to human agency, whether for 
good or evil. The righteous are not all cut off; 
nor are the days of the wicked always prolonged. 
If the Davids were all to die at thirty-five and 
the Ahabs to live to seventy, — if the Elizabeth 
Frys w r ere to be removed in the noontide of life 
and the Mary Wollstonecrafts to be preserved to 
old age,— we might well fold our hands and hang 
our heads. But, taking one generation with 
another, w r e find that the righteous and the 
wicked — like the tares and the wheat in the 
same field — are cut down together. In all com- 
munities there may be seven thousand (more or 
less) that have not bowed the knee to Baal. 

Let me now enlarge the sphere of my observa- 



16S SOLILOQUY. 

tion. The human family, though the chief objects 
of attention in many respects, are by no means 
the only ones within my view. There are count- 
less orders of inferior creatures, from those 
who in powers of instinct and imitation come 
nearest to the lowest grade of humanity, down to 
the creatures whose claim to animal life can be 
determined only by the most minute microscopical 
research. In every individual of these innumer- 
able orders there is discernible a uniform and 
invariable law of structure and motion. The 
same is true of the vegetable world. The laws 
of existence and growth, of decay and renovation, 
are as obviously active and controlling in the 
daisy as in the oak, — in the fly as in the elephant. 

So of the more general phenomena of this 
lower creation. What could add to the evidence 
we already possess that the succession of the 
seasons, the alternation of day and night, and the 
endlessly-varied provisions for the demands of 
nature, animate and inanimate, are the result of 
an established, pre-existing order or law ? 

The same conclusion is still more irresistibly 
forced upon us if we consider the wonders of the 
worlds above us. It is impossible to account for 



SOLILOQUY. 169 

the harmony and precision with which these vast 
bodies pass and repass through the boundless 
fields of space, on any hypothesis but that of a 
law independent of themselves, by which all their 
orbits are fixed and their revolutions appointed. 

Were we to see two or three hundred first- 
class ships-of-war launched upon an inland sea, like 
that of Galilee, — which was in its greatest extent 
perhaps fourteen or fifteen miles long and seven 
or eight wide, — and should see them driven by 
fierce winds in various and often opposite direc- 
tions, passing each other night and day with incon- 
ceivable velocity of motion, oftentimes almost graz- 
ing sides, but never coming in collision, — and all 
this with not a soul on board any of them to direct 
or change their course, — we should feel compelled 
to acknowledge the presence among them of some 
mysterious controlling, though unseen, power. 
And is there less evidence of the presence of 
such a power in the motions of the sun, moon 
and stars, rolling in all their vastness through 
illimitable space, so nearly in conjunction, yet 
never impinging each other ? 

With the evidence we have from reason and 
analogy of the existence of a law regulating the 

15 



170 SOLILOQUY. 

world of matter, it would be preposterous to sup- 
pose that the functions of the mind — so much more 
grand and mysterious in its powers and relations, 
reaching into eternity — are subject to no law. 
Whatever reasoning convinces us that natural 
phenomena around us occur in obedience to 
natural laws will be still more conclusive to 
show that the moral phenomena within us are 
subject to a moral law. 

How are the provisions and sanctions of such a 
law to be ascertained, but by a revelation from 
the lawgiver? Assuming that the constitution 
.of our moral nature presupposes the existence of 
such a law, would not the absence of it be a 
greater mystery than any thing could be in its 
provisions or in the manner of its revelation ? 

This mode of reasoning is not unlike that of 
the great discoverer of this Western continent. 
Its existence was necessary, as he thought, to 
render consistent and harmonious, in all its parts, 
the received theory as to the configuration and 
motion of the earth. So we have certain data 
with respect to the government of the material 
world; and these demand corresponding data 
respecting the government of the immaterial and 



SOLILOQUY. 171 

invisible world. The absence of the latter would 
almost throw discredit on the former. 

Standing, then, where I do to-day, and accus- 
tomed as I have been all my life long to the social 
relations before mentioned, I am led to look more 
narrowly at my moral obligations and connections. 
I find, upon turning my view within, that I have 
a sense of right and wrong. I cannot deliberately 
form a purpose to do wrong without a sensible 
check from this source. And, on the other 
hand, I am conscious of self-approbation when I 
do right, just because it is right. This sense is 
quickened or blunted in proportion as I yield to 
it or resist it. 

Upon a review of my life, I note here and 
there, and at very short intervals, acts which I 
cannot but disapprove. They were plainly the 
fruits of a selfish, deceitful, corrupt, or malignant 
principle. Both the act and the principle are 
odious to me. I am conscious that I was per- 
fectly free to do those acts or to refrain from 
doing them. In doing them I voluntarily yielded 
to present temptation, which I might have resisted 
in those cases as easily as I have done in others. 
I overreached a neighbour in a bargain. I knew it 



172 THE LAW. 

at the time and exulted in it. I was conscious 
then, as I am conscious now, of the selfish con- 
siderations which actuated me. I was under no 
more necessity to overreach him then than I am 
under now to rob or murder him. Nor have I 
any power of resisting the temptation to do these 
last acts which I did not possess to resist the 
temptation to do the former. There is a law, 
then, within me — a part of my original nature — 
which approves what is right and disapproves 
what is wrong. I have reason to believe that 
this law is common to my race, — that the untu- 
tored savage, the besotted heathen, the pagan 
idolater, and the deluded Mohammedan are as 
really, though perhaps not so clearly, conscious 
of a distinction in motives and conduct as I am. 
This law, then, must be anterior to, or coeval with, 
my being. But, so far as I can learn, such an 
innate sense of right and wrong has been common 
to all previous generations, from the first created 
human being until now ; and hence I infer that, 
whatever it is, it had an existence prior to such 
first creation. As a basis of this law there must 
be some standard of moral character and conduct. 
It may be no more in our power to account for 



THE LAW. 173 

the presence of such a faculty as conscience in a 
man than for its absence from a tree or a stone, 
except on the ground that it belongs to the nature of 
the former and does not belong to the nature of the 
latter ; just as we say that sap belongs to the 
nature of a tree, and blood to that of an animal ; 
and to interchange them would require an inter- 
change of their whole character and organization. 
Were it left to our own unaided powers to 
determine what this law is, who is its author, 
what are its sanctions, and with what administra- 
tion or government it is connected, we might 
fall into all the vagaries, superstitions and idola- 
trous devices of heathenism. We should have 
good spirits and evil without number, represented 
in all the hideous and revolting forms to which a 
perverted fancy can give birth. We should try 
to divest it of all authority to interfere with the 
indulgence of our most corrupt and degrading 
passions. We should resort to every expedient, 
however absurd and vain, to disarm it of its 
sanctions and to bring down its authority to the 
level of our own desires and appetites ; and then, 
with altars and sacrifices of our own prescription 
and gods after our own fancy, the conscience 

15* 



174 A GUIDE. 

would inevitably become stupefied, and the whole 
moral nature at once come into bondage to the 
prince of darkness. 

But, as an individual, I have been singularly 
favoured. At the threshold of my being I re- 
ceived a volume which, as I was assured, dis- 
closes the origin of this law. It shows me 
whence I came, what I am, and whither I am 
going. It sets before me the principles and 
motives which ought to govern me. It warns 
me of my bane and antidote; points out my 
danger and my refuge ; reveals to me the traits 
of my character, the responsibilities under which 
I act, and the destiny that awaits me. It opens 
before the eye of my faith a boundless future, full 
of glory and blessedness to some and of remorse 
and suffering to others. 

This book is presented to me as a revelation 
from God my Maker, and as my only and suffi- 
cient rule of faith and duty. From habit and 
education, I have been accustomed to regard it as 
of supreme authority ; and why should I not so 
regard it? 

One point is clear, — viz., that whatever claims 
to be a revelation from heaven must be received as 



THE BIBLE. 175 

a whole or rejected as a whole. If what we know 
under the name of the Holy Scriptures of the 
Old and New Testaments is not a revelation from 
God, then it is quite clear that we are without 
any written revelation ; and if it is such a revela- 
tion, these writings must be received in their 
integrity; for if it is contended that only a portion 
of them is to be received as of divine origin, it 
is obvious that we have no authoritative test by 
which to determine what portion is from God and 
what is not. Human reason would be a very un- 
certain guide ; for it is its blindness and perversion, 
chiefly, that make a revelation necessary. It 
would put an end to the order of a household 
were the children and servants allowed to de- 
termine how much of a rule or command, supposed 
to be from the father and master, is to be ob- 
served. If there is nothing in the command 
clearly inconsistent with his known will, however 
difficult it may appear to comprehend the reason 
or propriety of it or to reconcile it with human 
notions of wisdom or goodness, it is to be re- 
ceived and obeyed. 

Now, in respect to the Bible, two things will 
be conceded : — 1. That it is either from God, or it 



176 ALL OR NONE. 

is not; and (2) there is no evidence to prove 
that one portion of it is from God which is not 
equally available to show that it is all from God. 
For example, if it is declared that " the soul that 
sinneth, it shall die ;" or that "all have sinned and 
come short of the glory of God ;" or that " God so 
loved the world that he gave his only-begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life ;" or, to the same 
purport, in other words, "he that believeth on 
the Son hath everlasting life ; but he that be- 
lieveth not the Son shall not see life, but the 
wrath of God abide th on him," we must admit 
or reject all or none. For there is no evidence 
to satisfy us that either of these declarations 
is from God, which does not show with equal 
conclusiveness that they all are from him. There 
is no evidence of a future world of glory which 
does not prove also and equally a future world 
of woe. There is no evidence in favour of the 
resurrection of the dead better than that which 
proves a day of judgment. God's mercy and 
benevolence rest on the same testimony that 
proves his justice and holiness. There is nothing 
to support a hope of salvation for a believer 



ALL OR NONE. 177 

which does not serve equally to cut off all hope 
for the unbeliever. 

The same course of argument applies with 
equal force to all subjects of revelation. If the 
doctrine of the incarnation of the Son of God is 
rejected, so also must be the doctrine of the 
atonement. If w T e deny "the great mystery of 
godliness, — God manifest in the flesh/' we must be 
prepared to deny any other mode of divine inter- 
position, and, indeed, the necessity of any such 
interposition ; and thence will follow the denial of 
any divine law, and, of course, the denial of sin, 
which is the transgression of such a law. 

I have sometimes tried to fancy what my con- 
dition and prospects as a moral being would be if 
it were shown satisfactorily that no confidence 
can be placed in the divine authority of the 
Scriptures. The moral power and obligations of 
which I am conscious constitute the noblest part 
of my nature ; but with what or whom these high 
attributes connect me, I have (in the case sup- 
posed) no means of determining. I am not self- 
existent. On the contrary, I am helpless, — en- 
tirely dependent. So little do I know, and so 
restricted are my powers, that the very means I 

M 



178 A PERPLEXITY. 

take to preserve my life may hasten its extinction. 
I can lay plans and form purposes reaching far into 
the future ; but where I shall be when the clock 
strikes the next hour is as unknown to me as if 
there were no future. I am conscious of having 
left undone many things that I ought to have done, 
as well as of having done many that I ought not to 
have done ; but where the law is that I have thus 
violated, or who is the author of it, or what is 
the nature of his government or of my relations 
to him or it, I am utterly ignorant. There is a 
mysterious, undefined apprehension of an invisible, 
superior power, of which I cannot rid myself. I 
fear that evil awaits me, because I know I deserve 
it. But who there is for me to propitiate, or by 
what sacrifices I may avert his wrath, who can 
tell ? And though the light of nature may reveal 
to me a great First Cause, — the Creator, upholder 
and governor of the vast fabric of the visible 
universe, — there would still remain the old perplex- 
ing inquiry, "Wherewith shall I come before the 
Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall 
I come before him with burnt-offerings and calves 
of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with 
thousands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of 



PLAIN TRUTHS. • 179 

oil? Shall 1 give my first-born for my trans- 
gression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my 
soul ?" What mystery does Holy Scripture con- 
tain or propose to my faith so unfathomable as 
this would be, — that the Creator of such a being 
as I am has left me without any positive revela- 
tion of his moral attributes, or of my real relations 
and responsibleness as a moral creature ? 

I reject the monstrous supposition, and return to 
the Bible again as a fountain of light and peace. 
I turn over its sacred pages; and, while I find 
things hard to be understood, — some because my 
moral and intellectual powers are limited as well 
as perverted and corrupted, and others because 
of my lack of spiritual discernment, and not a 
few because of their very nature being above all 
finite comprehension and placed before us to try 
our faith and lead us to adore in silence what 
even the angels desire to look into and are not 
permitted, — there is enough, level to the meanest 
capacity and within the grasp of the weakest 
faith, to call forth our unceasing gratitude and 
praise. Among these plain truths let me specify 
the following, and beg you to ascertain, bv a care- 



180 PLAIN TRUTHS. 

ful examination of the inspired volume, if they 
are not unequivocally revealed : — 

1. That there is an eternal, self-existent God, — 
the former of our bodies and the father of our 
spirits, the giver of every good and perfect gift, 
with whom there is no variableness, neither 
shadow of turning. 

2. That he created man in his own image, 
perfect in his moral nature, and gave him a law 
as the rule of his life. If he obeyed, he and his 
posterity should retain the image and favour of 
God; but, if otherwise, he and they should forfeit 
both. Why God saw fit to suspend my destiny 
on the act of another is a vain and useless 
inquiry. I came into the world as one of the 
posterity of this first transgressor, and, being a 
partaker of his nature, am liable to the same 
condemnation. 

3. That immediately after this first apostasy it 
was plainly intimated that a way should be 
opened by which the forfeited favour of God could 
be recovered ; and though the earthly paradise was 
closed and guarded by flaming swords, to. show 
that there is no way by which man can of him- 
self return to that communion with God which lie 



PLAIN TRUTHS. 181 

enjoyed before the fall, yet a scheme of mercy 
was dimly disclosed, in types and symbols, pro- 
gressively opened to patriarchs and prophets, and 
by them spread before the world, and at last fully 
developed in the person and offices of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

4. That the scheme of redemption embodies 
profound mysteries. How is it that a holy law 
is honoured and a just government vindicated by 
inflicting on a perfectly innocent being the dread- 
ful punishment due to the guilty, we know not. 
That God w T as manifest in the flesh, justified in 
the spirit, seen of angels, believed on in the 
world, and received up into glory, is, and ever 
will be, the great mystery of godliness. The 
Scriptures plainly declare that Christ died for the 
ungodly, and that God commendeth his love to 
us. in that, w T hile we were yet sinners, Christ died 
for us. Such plain, unequivocal declarations, 
though unsupported by argument or illustration, 
settle all my doubts. If I receive the faithful 
saying "that Jesus Christ came into the world to 
save sinners," I receive the doctrine of the atone- 
ment in its widest sense ; and I cannot reject this 
without at the same time discrediting, if not 

16 



182 PLAIN TRUTHS. 

denying, the whole volume of inspiration. But 
the doctrine comes to me fortified' and commended 
by the stern necessities of my own nature. It is 
an acknowledged evidence of the immortality of 
the soul that a desire of immortality and a dread 
of the extinction of our being is almost or quite 
universal. I see my fellow-men dying around 
me. For many years death has been a familiar 
object to my eyes; and it is rather a matter of 
wonder that I am in the land of the living. My 
grandparents and the generations that preceded 
them have all returned to the dust. My children 
are treading upon my heels ; and very soon they 
will turn from my grave, only to find their own. 
It is not the mere parting with life or the pain of 
dissolution that occasions me anxiety or appre- 
hension in the prospect of death. It is the re- 
tribution of the future ! I cannot forget that I 
have sinned against God ; and how must a sloth- 
ful and unprofitable servant be dealt with in the 
day of reckoning? 

It is an easy matter for me to find objections 
to the method of salvation revealed to me in the 
Scriptures. I cannot understand why some other 
mode, equally illustrative of the divine holiness 



LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE. 183 

and compassion, might not have been devised, 
without such a sacrifice ; nor, indeed, why God 
in his mere sovereignty could not pardon sin 
as easily as punish it. How* my faith (which is 
God's gift) unites my spiritual nature to Christ 
in such a sense as that he becomes mine and I 
become his, or how this faith is wrought in me, I 
know not. How the new or spiritual birth differs 
from the natural birth in respect to my action, 
agency or co-operation; whether I could avoid 
being born again, any more than I could avoid 
being born to my present existence ; and whether 
I am any more able to accomplish the former 
than I was the latter ; and, hence, what are the 
sole prerogatives of the Almighty, and what is 
the liberty of the human will, — these and a legion 
of similar inquiries can be easily raised and 
with difficulty answered ; but I am driven back 
from them all to the oppressive consciousness of 
ill desert, and a painful conviction of my exposure 
to the penalty of a holy law. All my doubts 
and difficulties, solved or unsolved, do not shed a 
ray of light across the darkness of my prospect 
nor furnish any refuge for my guilty, self-con- 
demned, affrighted soul. When I seriously think 



184 DOCILITY. 

that I am in the hands of a righteous God, who 
abhors iniquity, and that none but the pure in 
heart shall see him in peace, my soul is over- 
whelmed, and I utter the involuntary cry, " What 

SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED ?" 

Is there any oracle to which I can repair for a 
reliable answer to this pregnant question but the 
Sacred Scriptures? Must I not adopt the lan- 
guage of the perplexed disciple, "Lord, to 
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of 
eternal life." 

And with what temper shall I consult this 
sacred volume ? Surely not in a proud, self- 
righteous, cavilling spirit, suggesting difficulties 
and demanding explanations at every step, or 
passing judgment on the wisdom or benevolence 
of my Creator's dealings with me. But I must 
receive its teachings in an humble and teachable 
spirit, filled with shame and sorrow for my in- 
gratitude and disobedience, yet encouraged and em- 
boldened by the gracious promises of my heavenly 
Father. I must submit myself unreservedly to 
his disposal, and accept salvation as the free gift 
of boundless grace, — a free gift to me, but pur- 
chased at nn infinite price thai it might become 



A FREE SALVATION. 185 

such. Yes ; a free gift, with as much mystery in 
the dispensation of it as he pleases. Only let it 
be salvation, only let it bring relief to my 
burdened conscience and assure me that my 
sins are forgiven and my peace made with God, 
and the freeness of it shall but swell higher my 
emotions of gratitude and my song of praise. 
For what should I do if it were not free ? How 
could I atone for a single violation of God's holy 
law ? I may think I am rich and increased in 
goods and have need of nothing ; and so the poor 
maniac may pace the halls of the hospital with 
the pretensions of a queen or a Croesus ; but the 
delusion in either case is too obvious to deceive 
a sound mind. He who knows me better than I 
know myself tells me that I am poor, and 
w T retched, and miserable, and blind, and naked ; 
and he counsels me to buy of him gold tried in 
the fire, that I may be rich ; and white raiment, 
that I may be clothed; and to anoint my eyes 
with eye-salve, that I may see. And when I tell 
him that I have nothing with which to buy these 
munificent endowments, he offers them to my 
acceptance without money and without price ! 
Is not this an unexaggerated representation 

16* 



186 A FINAL REFUGE. 

of the provisions of gospel mercy? Do I mis- 
conceive their purport ? And can I err in giving 
them a cordial reception ? Am I not prompted 
by such an exhibition of my danger and my 
refuge to exclaim — 

" How sad my state by nature is ! 
My sin, how deep its stains ! 
How Satan binds my captive soul 
Fast in his treacherous chains ! 

" But hark ! a voice of sovereign grace 
Sounds from the sacred word : — 
Ho ! thou despairing rebel, come 
And trust upon the Lord. 

"My soul obeys the heavenly call 
And runs to this relief. 
I would believe thy promise, Lord ! 
Oh, help mine unbelief! 

" A guilty, weak and helpless worm, 
On thy kind arms I fall. 

Lord ! my strength ! my righteousness ! 
My Jesus ! and my all." 

Do not say that there is no argument in all 
this, — nothing to explain what is mysterious or 
to reconcile what seem to be inconsistencies. It 
is an argument to the necessity of our nature. 
The condemned criminal is beside himself who 
declines to accept a pardon till he has investigated 



A FINAL REFUGE. 187 

the credentials of the officer who brings it to him, 
or the competency of the government to grant it. 
His choice is between what is offered to him of 
clemency and what is due to him as a convict. 
There is nothing to argue about. He knows that 
he is condemned and that the proffered pardon 
rescues him from the impending penalty. It is 
as if one stood at the junction of two roads, one 
of which he knows will certainly lead him whither 
he would go, and the other in a contrary direc- 
tion ; and does he need an argument to persuade 
him which to take ? 

Religion in its very nature appeals to human 
consciousness rather than human reason. It as- 
sumes what none can have the hardihood to deny, — 
that sin and suffering are inseparable companions. 
It comes to me in my guilt, and offers me pardon ; 
in my weakness, and offers me strength ; in the 
death of trespasses and sins, and offers me eternal 
life ; in my alienation from the family and favour 
of God, and offers to ^restore me to both, so that 
I shall become the son and heir of the Lord of 
heaven and earth. If this is not all truly and 
scripturally stated, then no child of Adam has 
any way of escape from the consequences of 



188 THE MADNESS OF UNBELIEF. 

violating God's holy law. If his law can be 
violated with impunity, then it is no law ; and if 
there is no law, there is no government; and 
thus we are brought to the dark and dismal 
cavern of atheism. 

Let me ask, again, What greater mystery does 
the plan of salvation present than that of a 
reasonable, immortal man, on the brink of eternal 
ruin, asking explanations of the divine govern- 
ment ? A free pardon, obtained through the infi- 
nite sufferings of another, is offered him freely, and 
he holds it in reserve till his doubts are satisfied 
as to the wisdom, justice and consistency of the 
divine administration ! The wonder, is not that he 
is exercising his intellectual powers in ascertain- 
ing his duty and the reasonableness of God's claims 
upon him ; but that he is so blind to his forlorn 
condition as an offender against God's holy law, 
and so voluntarily insensible to the surpassing 
love of God in the plan of redemption, that he 
does not exclaim, " Oh, the depth of the riches 
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! How 
unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past 
finding out !" 

There are few objects in the world more instruct- 



THE GERM OF FAITH. 189 

ive than a little child, with its tiny, clean, plump 
hands, grasping the folds of its mother's dress? 
What fearless confidence does that little handful 
of frail silk or cotton inspire ! And what is it 
but the incipiency of faith, — that principle which 
in its maturer growth and divine virtue made the 
glorious company of the apostles, the goodly 
fellowship of the prophets and the noble army of 
martyrs ? Well would it be if as that little hand 
grows larger and leaner and stronger the soul 
could grasp with equal confidence objects of faith 
suited to advancing years. Well would it be for 
us all if we could step upward from one projection 
of the cliff to another and higher, until our feet 
are firmly planted on the Rock of ages. 

I am sure that a single glimpse of our igno- 
rance and weakness must prompt each of us to 
say,— 

" My soul, wait thou only upon God ; 
For my expectation is from him : 
He only is my rock and my salvation, 
He is my defence. I shall not be moved : 
In God is my salvation and my glory ; 
The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God." 



190 



THE NEW BIRTH. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Reasonableness of the doctrine of regeneration — A positive and 
conscious change — Notable illustrations — The early occurrence 
of such a change desirable, and why — What favours and what 
hinders it — Cases — A natural question. 

Having considered in our past interviews the 
leading doctrines of the Christian faith, the 
source from which they are derived, and their 
adaptedness to meet the exigencies of sinful 
beings subject to the government of an infinitely- 
holy God, it may be profitable to separate one of 
them from the group and look more particularly 
into its claim to our cordial entertainment. 
And we will take' one which lies at the bottom 
of any scriptural system of belief. I mean that 
which is familiarly known under the term of 
regeneration or the new birth. I hold that this 
event or crisis in the life of the soul of man is 
not only perfectly reasonable, but such as the 
analogies of God's providential government would 
lead us to expect. 



THE NEW BIRTH. 191 

We have seen that it is only from Holy Scrip- 
ture that we obtain any just knowledge of God 
or of his ways. If our minds were unclouded 
and unperverted, as was the mind of man before 
his apostasy, we should learn his divine nature 
and perfections by immediate communion with 
him. But, with our passions all disordered and 
corrupted, our affections roving after forbidden 
things, and our whole moral nature alienated 
from the source of all light and truth, we are 
incapable of receiving correct notions of God's 
character or of our relations to him otherwise 
than by a direct revelation. As we have already 
seen, the history of our race from the beginning 
shows conclusively that without a revelation of 
God's mind and will, such as Holy • Scripture 
alone furnishes, we should strive in vain to " find 
out God." Assuming, then, that w T hat we call 
the Bible is a true record of what holy men of 
old spake under the immediate inspiration of the 
Divine Spirit, we must accept its testimony not 
only concerning God's character and law, but also 
concerning man's condition and estate under his 
government. We find, then, that man being in 
honour abode not. He transgressed the righteous 



192 THE NEW BIRTH. 

and reasonable law under which he was placed, 
and thus incurred its penalty, — death. That con- 
demnation involved him and his posterity in 
alienation from God and in absolute unfitness 
for the enjoyment of holy duties or for the 
society of holy beings. 

The fountain being thus embittered, no sweet 
waters thereafter flowed from it. The tree thus 
corrupted could no longer bear good fruit ; for no 
one can bring a clean thing out of an unclean. The 
holy nature with which our first parents were 
endowed assimilated them to God ; and, had they 
obeyed the law which was made the test of their 
allegiance, that nature would have been trans- 
mitted from generation to generation, and our 
world would have been still the garden of Eden, 
indefinitely enlarged for the dwelling-place of its 
happy and holy inhabitants. But, as we have 
seen, by the transgression of that law they lost 
the favour of God and his image in their own 
souls, and, of course, could transmit to their 
posterity no nature purer than their own. No 
one will deny that this disobedience of our 
first parents completely changed their moral 
character and relations. It left them in God's 



UNCONGENIALITIES. 193 

hands as their lawgiver and judge, but separated 
them from him as their friend and companion. 
Before that woeful catastrophe, they walked with 
God, and his favour was the light of their life. 
After it, they hid themselves from his presence 
and shrunk instinctively from communion with 
him. It was in the likeness of this alienated, 
corrupt, ruined nature that Cain and Abel came 
into the world ; and the same odious image have 
all subsequent generations borne. 

Admitting this to be a true account of mankind, 
as an order of God's creatures, and that God 
possesses the attributes of holiness and justice 
which the Scriptures ascribe to him, is it not 
manifest that moral natures so entirely at variance 
can have no sympathies, no enjoyments, no pur- 
suits in common ? Can there be but one answer 
to the question of the prophet ? — a How can two 
walk together except they are agreed ?" or to that 
of the apostle ? — " What communion hath light 
with darkness? or what concord hath Christ 
with Belial?" 

The case is not very unlike that of two per- 
sons whose natural faculties, capacities and tastes 
would, under ordinary circumstances, lead them 

N 17 



194 UNCONGENIALITIES. 

to the pursuit of similar objects and to the enjoy- 
ment of similar pleasures, but who have lived 
from infancy in entirely different conditions. One 
has been accustomed to the purest air, familiar 
with the most sublime mountain scenery, and 
alive to all the glorious works of the Creator. 
The associations of the other have extended but 
little beyond the dark, narrow, filthy alley in 
which he has what he calls his home. The 
former has been drinking all his life long from 
the fountains of wisdom and knowledge, and is 
familiar with the maxims of the greatest and 
best of men. The latter has spent his days in 
idleness and ignorance, or, if he has had access to 
books, they have been of a character far from 
elevating or purifying to his nature. The former 
has refined manners, and a highly-cultivated taste, 
and an exquisite perception of the beautiful in 
nature and art. To the latter all objects are alike 
uninteresting that do not suggest some gratifica- 
tion of the animal appetite or favour the vulgar 
inclinations in which he delights. Suppose these 
two persons should fall in company on a journey : 
does any one doubt that there would be an instant, 
instinctive, mutual aversion? Would not each of 



UNCONGENIALITIES. 195 

them embrace the very first opportunity to seek 
solitude or other society ? How could it be 
otherwise ? What topics of reflection or conver- 
sation could they have in common ? What objects, 
by the way, would they be likely to regard with 
mutual interest ? 

But how inadequate is such an illustration to 
set forth the dissimilarity in moral nature and 
character between our Creator and his creatures ! 
What is man, that he should be clean ? He is 
represented as " abominable and filthy" in God's 
sight, and as " drinking in iniquity like water." 
When you hear such representations of the 
natural character of man denounced as absurd 
and libellous, just consider whether these or any 
other terms can possibly express wider extremes 
than holiness and sin. I will not contend for a 
form of words. I am willing to forego the phrase 
(more obnoxious to many than the thing) " total 
depravity," which is not found in Scripture. I 
only insist that in the character with which 
every human being comes into this world there is 
not that element of holiness without which no 
man can see the Lord. 

Is it not, then, clear that this evil nature must 



196 A CONSCIOUS CHANGE. 

be made good, this polluted soul must be cleansed, 
these carnal and corrupt desires must be made 
holy, before heaven and God's presence can be 
entered with joy? Could an impenitent sinner, 
an unbeliever in Christ, be happy with angels and 
holy beings for his only companions ? Is it not 
clear that if he had not been born at all he could 
not have beheld the light of the sun, nor any of 
the objects of beauty and glory which it reveals 
in the natural world ? And is it not equally clear 
that unless he is "born again" he will never 
discern the infinitely higher and more glorious 
objects which are to be revealed in the spiritual 
world ? 

Having shown you the reasonableness of such 
a transformation of our nature as regeneration or 
the new birth implies, it need scarcely be said 
that the occurrence of it must be a subject of dis- 
tinct consciousness. I do not say the exact time 
of its occurrence, or the attending circumstances, 
but the fact. He who is born again knows it. 
In some cases the circumstances are indelibly im- 
pressed. It is impossible that the jailer at 
Philippi should not have been conscious of a won- 
derful revolution in his feelings and sympathies 



A CONSCIOUS CHANGE. 197 

during the eventful night in which his prisoners 
became preachers of righteousness and instruments 
of salvation to him and his household. Lydia 
could have no doubt that she was governed by 
new views of truth and duty after her "heart 
was opened to attend to the things which were 
spoken of Paul." 

There may be cant phrases in vogue, expressive 
of this transformation, which are as little to my 
taste as they can be to your's ; and doubtless 
there are cases in which people are deceived and 
deceive others (not intending it, perhaps) in 
supposing themselves to have been the subjects 
of regenerating grace, when they are really and 
truly in their natural state of alienation from 
God and all holy beings. But that such a change 
does take place when the soul is brought into 
reconciliation with God by the power of the Holy 
Ghost, and in consequence of the atonement for 
its sins by the Lord Jesus Christ, is an incontro- 
vertible fact ; and the party is as conscious of it 
as he is of waking out of sleep or of passing out 
of a dark room into the light of noonday. There 
is no plainer declaration in Holy Scripture than 
the words of Christ himself: — "Verily, verily, I 

17* 



198 A CONSCIOUS CHANGE. 

say unto you. Except a man be born again, he 
cannot see the "kingdom of God." 

This change is called conversion in the same 
sense in which we say that a person who em- 
braces an opinion which he has before opposed is 
converted to that opinion; or that the drunkard 
who forsakes his cups is converted into a sober 
man; and that the worldling who renounces 
the world and accepts the salvation of the 
gospel is converted to Christ and becomes one 
of his disciples. 

That the evidence of this' moral transformation 
is in all cases equally satisfactory, even to one's 
self, is not affirmed. Faith — true and energetic 
faith — may co-exist with a very indistinct and 
limited conception of divine truth. 

" Among my earliest inquirers" (says a pastor) 
" was a married lady, of. German origin, whose 
views of divine truth were very imperfect and 
vague. She seemed to feel that she was a shiner, 
and that the gospel promised salvation to all who 
behoved in Christ ; but of the extent and obliga- 
tion of the divine law, or of the depth and guilt 
of her depravity, or of the necessity and value of 
the death of Christ, she had no definite opinions. 



INDEFINITE VIEWS. 199 

' I am a lost sinner/ she said, ' and wish to be a 
Christian. I have never lived as I ought ; and I 
want to begin now/ were the sum and substance 
of her convictions of native enmity to God and 
condemnation by his holy law. I explained to 
her, as I thought, with great simplicity and ful- 
ness, the Scripture doctrine of man's native 
depravity and helplessness, of the Saviour's in- 
carnation and death to save a lost race, and of the 
need of the Spirit's agency to renew and sanctify 
the heart. In several successive interviews I 
presented these truths in various forms and re- 
lations and thought she attained some distinct 
apprehension of them; but at our next meeting 
the effect seemed wholly lost, and her views of 
truth were as dim and shadowy as ever. 

" She cherished at length a hope that she was a 
Christian, but could refer to no particular time 
when conscious of a change of heart and feeling. 
No passage of Scripture had brought comfort. 
No wrestling prayer had given peace. No known 
duty performed, or cross taken up, had relieved 
her burdened spirit. She thought she loved the 
Saviour, and found pleasure in prayer, and had 
no other* wish than to live wholly for God ; and 



200 INDEFINITE VIEWS. 

these were about all the evidences she could 
furnish of true conversion. 

"I was greatly perplexed. I could not be 
satisfied with her inadequate views of truth. I 
was doubtful of the reality of a conversion in 
which the successive steps were invisible. I 
feared that her religious impressions were super- 
ficial and transitory, and that she would soon fall 
back into a worldly life. I accordingly post- 
poned her application for admission to church 
ordinances, and urged her to study the Bible 
with prayer and try to understand distinctly its 
most important truths. But delay produced no 
change. Her opinions were still shadowy, while 
her walk was humble and consistent. 

" She was finally received among the professed 
disciples of Christ. I watched her course for 
many months with anxiety. I feared for her 
stability. But year after year rolled by, and she 
continued to lead an humble and consistent life. 
Her example was almost blameless in word and 
deportment. She was a woman of prayer, and 
loved the Bible. She adorned the profession she 
had made, and no one in the world ventured to 
doubt her piety. But her views of the doctrines 



INDEFINITE VIEWS. 201 

of the Bible never attained clearness or coherence, 
and she never advanced much beyond her first 
lesson. — that she was a great sinner, and Christ a 
perfect Saviour. I learned the lesson that the 
heart is often better than the head, and faith may 
flourish when knowledge is imperfect." 

Such cases of vagueness and uncertainty in 
religious convictions are exceptions to ordinary 
experience and observation. The laws which 
govern our minds on other subjects control them 
here. 

The records of eminent statesmen, learned phi- 
losophers and brave generals do not furnish more 
specific evidence of their principles and acts than 
the records of Christian experience supply of the 
principles and acts which distinguish the disciples 
of Christ from others. And we may as reasonably 
question whether Edmund Burke was a statesman, 
Sir Isaac Newton a philosopher, or George Wash- 
ington a general, as whether William Wilberforce, 
John Wesley and Edward Payson were the dis- 
ciples and followers of Christ in such a sense as to 
distinguish them from the great majority of man- 
kind. 

Not only is this distinction obvious where it 



202 REV. L . 

really exists, but in many instances (perhaps in 
most) the process that leads to it is a matter of 
personal consciousness as much as the loss or 
recovery of bodily health. It may be that in 
seasons of excitement persons of a peculiar tem- 
perament will suppose themselves to be the 
subjects of the regenerating power of the Holy 
Spirit, when in truth they are deluded by the 
vain fancies of a fervid imagination. But in most 
instances the commencement of a religious life, 
which we call the new birth, and all the stages 
of after-growth, are as real to the experience 
of the individual as the growth of the body 
from helpless infancy to vigorous manhood. 

You remember Rev. L , of Paris, 

whom I introduced to you last winter. You were 
struck, as everybody is, with his great frankness 
and simplicity of manner. With all the vivacity 
which characterizes his nation, you could not fail 
to observe the deep hold which the love and 
service of Christ had taken upon his energies 
and affections. Let me tell you something of his 
history, by way of illustrating what I have said 
of the conscious reality of the change we are con- 
sidering. It is the more impressive because of 



REV . L . 203 

the volatility and fickleness whicn are supposed to 
belong to the disposition of the French people. 

He was educated a Roman Catholic. His 
father became a soldier, and entered the army of 
Napoleon I. at the age of fourteen. He was very 

fond of his children, and especially of L . 

Though enjoying the advantages of a good school, 
he was much averse to study. A more active life 
suited him better; and, after trying several em- 
ployments, he finally settled upon that of a brass- 
founder. He entered an establishment for the 
purpose of learning the business, and soon showed 
remarkable expertness : so that, though he entered 
with the understanding that he was to receive no 
remuneration for his services until he became 
skilful in his work, he soon earned three or four 
dollars a day; and when he had accumulated a 
sufficient sum he resolved to expend it in 
travelling over the kingdom and visiting similar 
establishments. When he applied for admittance 
to workshops, they often laughed at his dimi- 
nutive size and boyish countenance. Some- 
times he would propose to them to let him 
try his hand at some work ; when he soon con- 
vinced them of his superior skill. Some of his 



204 REV. L . 

work was sent to a distant town, containing a 
population of ten thousand, and, coming under the 
notice of some capitalists, they resolved upon 
erecting a foundry, and immediately inquired 
him out and invited him to an interview. When 
they saw him, they declined the negotiation, at 
least for the present, till after the return of a 
partner who was abroad. He told them he 
should leave in the morning and must know 
before then, or he should make other arrange- 
ments. They concluded to go on, admitted him 
to a share in the concern, and gave him charge 
of the whole enterprise. He went forward with 
great success. His youth, coupled with so much 
skill and efficiency, excited general notice. He 
employed all his leisure moments in reading Vol- 
taire, Diderot and other authors of the infidel school. 
He went to no balls, theatres or pleasure-parties. 
He mingled not at all in society, read much 
while others slept, and, strange to say, his great 
and constant aim was to make himself believe 
that there is no God and no future state. He 
was uneasy, and attributed his uneasiness to im- 
pressions which were entirely superstitious, ;is he 



REV. L . 205 

supposed ; and, if they were dispelled, he believed 
he should be happy. 

On his way home in the evening, he was accus- 
tomed to pass a lowly house, where he once heard 
singing. Being fond of music, he stopped and 
listened. The door was open, and he went in. 
Perhaps fifteen persons were present. The 
preacher was a Missionary of an Evangelical 
Society, and had just commenced his labours in 
that place. His subject was brotherly love. 

L heard him, and despised what he said, — 

considering it all arrant hypocrisy. He hastened 
away, went home, and betook himself to his 
favourite authors, Diderot and Voltaire, again. 

Not long after, he heard singing repeated at the 
same place and went in again. He thought the 
preacher spoke the language very well and was 
proper in his deportment; but he found that 
going there increased his uneasiness. Neverthe- 
less, when he went by the place and saw it open, 
he was always inclined to go in, — though he 
rushed out as soon as the service was ended. 

By-and-by, as he was sitting in this place, when, 
without any thing from the minister, or any other 
extraneous influence to suggest it, the idea struck 

18 



206 # REV. L . 

him like a flash of lightning, " Christianity may 
be true ; and, if it is, I am a lost man." All the 
fortresses of his infidelity disappeared like the 
dew of a summer morning. He was conscious of 
great agitation, and was sure it would be ob- 
served. He sat a while. The preacher then, as 
on former occasions, urged them to read the Bible 
and seek light and wisdom from God by earnest 
prayer. The preacher's wife was there, and sat 
near L ; and the moment the usual benedic- 
tion was pronounced, she laid her hand on his 
arm, and said, — 

"You seem to have been interested in the 
preaching of the gospel. We have noticed you 
as an attentive listener ; and, if you would like to 
speak with the preacher, he will be glad to see 
you," — at the same time giving him his address. 

"I did not want to speak to anybody. (We 
now use his own words.) I wanted to be alone. 
I hastened home in a state bordering upon de- 
spair. I felt that the Christian doctrine is true, 
and that my unbelief was a grievous sin. I 
could see no way of escape. I thought how many 
books I had read, and yet I had never read a 
word of the Bible, which the minister urged the 



REV. L . 207 

people so earnestly to read." So I determined to 
buy one. I went to the obscure place where 
Bibles were sold, and, with an assumed careless 
air, asked for a copy. When this was bought, I 
said, Now I want to buy a New Testament, — not 
knowing that it was part of the volume I had just 
purchased. The man, supposing I wanted it for 
a pocket-companion in addition to the Bible, sold 
me one. I went home with them, locked myself in 
my room, lay down on the bed, took my new book 
and began at the beginning to read. After reading 
rapidly the first five or six chapters of Genesis, I 
thought it was supremely absurd, and felt so 
chagrined and imposed upon that I threw the book 
violently across the room, and composed myself 
to sleep. When the servant saw the book the 
next morning and took it up, I told her to lay it 
away on the shelf out of my sight. 

" For weeks I was the most wretched creature 
in the wide world. I used to speak of myself 
freely as a lost man! a lost man! and people 
would confer with each other aside about me, 
saying — 

" ' Do you remember that young man who came 
here and set up the foundry at — ? Poor 



208 REV. L . 

fellow ! he has gone mad. I thought it would be 
so. Always reading; never going to places of 
amusement. Pity that such a bright young fellow 
should destroy himself.' 

" I could not attend to any thing. The convic- 
tion that the Christian doctrine is true, and that 
it condemned me, haunted me wherever I went 
and whatever I did. At last I resolved to go and 
see that man — the minister — and perhaps he would 
tell me what I had better do. I went. He 
opened the gospel to me; and I received it, and 
was happy. 

" I soon stuffed my pockets with religious 
tracts and Testaments, and gave them to those 
I met. When such as had previously known me 
asked what had wrought so great a change in my 
feelings and habits, I gave them a Testament or 
a tract, saying, i Read that, and you w T ill know.' 
Some, who saw me so happy and had lately seen 
me so much cast down, said, c Poor fellow ! it is 
often so with people that lose their wits: they 
are first at one extreme and then at the other.' 

"I now made up my mind to dissolve my busi- 
ness connections. I told my partners that T 
would stay my year out if they wished; but it 



rev. L . 209 

would not be for their advantage or mine, as my 
mind was absorbed by another and a greater object. 
We very pleasantly separated. The minister 
became my friend ; but my father disowned me. 
He considered that the change of my religion was 
highly discreditable to the family. I was anxious 
to return to Paris, but lacked the means. My father 
soon after saw a letter I had written, which induced 
him to relent, and to receive me with great cor- 
diality, and, at last, he too became a follower of 
Christ. In process of time the thought crossed 
my mind that I might, some time, be a missionary; 
but it seemed so absurd that I dismissed it at 
once. The minister talked with me about my 
plan of life several times, and suggested the 
preaching of the gospel ; and I asked him if he 
seriously thought such a thing possible. It was 
finally resolved upon. I commenced study. The 
Greek came very hard to me ; but I persevered, 
and in two years went through the course of study 
usually appropriated to eight. For those two 
years I studied, on an average, twenty hours in 
every twenty-four, and finally became incapable 
of sleep. My nervous system was excited to 
such a degree that I could see visions at noonday 

18* 



210 REV. L . 

with my eyes wide open. At the close of my 
examination, the teacher said I had accomplished 
my object, but I had sacrificed my life. Soon after, 
I left Paris and went to the South of France — 
(as my friends supposed) to die. But the change 
of air and scene and new occupations revived me, 
and I soon returned with confirmed health. The 
minister, whose little meeting first drew me 
under the sound of the gospel, is now a missionary 

in C . I have just returned from a visit to 

him ; for I was not willing to stay a day on the 
same continent without visiting him." 

Can any one doubt that this narrative describes 
an actual, sensible change in moral feelings and 
aspirations ? 

Suppose you should hear a soldier's account of 
a skirmish in which he was wounded in the knee. 
He describes the march ; the position of the enemy; 
the preparations for the fight; the assault; his 
fall ; the nature of the wound ; the removal from 
the field ; the hospital to which he was carried ; 
the treatment received ; and his recovery, though 
with an incurable stiffness of the joint, which is 
plain enough when he attempts to walk : }^ou 
would have no more doubt of the truth of his 



A STRUGGLE. 211 

narrative than if you had been by his side in the 
battle. And why is less credit due to the history 
of a change in one's views and principles, so great 
and radical as to be but feebly represented by 
the transition from darkness to light, or even from 
death to life, — and that, too, oftentimes connected 
with a conflict of passions and emotions so sharp 
and protracted as almost to crush the spirit of a 
strong man ? 

A very intimate friend of mine — a lawyer by 
profession and a man of irreproachable morals — was 
the subject of such a fearful struggle. He was 
so exemplary in his habits and so punctilious in 
his observance of the outward duties of religion 
that most of his acquaintances (professional as 
well as personal) supposed him to be an avowed 
disciple of Christ. During a season of unusual 
interest in the subject of religion, two or three of 
his nearest friends were particularly moved in his 
behalf. And though his high intellectual endow- 
ments, his stern integrity and his social standing 
were all arrayed in opposition to his humbling 
himself and becoming as a little child, the Spirit 
of God overcame them all; and a fiercer tumult 
of feeling it has never been my lot to witness 



212 A VICTORY. 

than that of which thp bosom of my dear friend 
was the theatre for some two or three weeks. 
Familiar as he was from childhood with the doc- 
trines of revelation, and accustomed as he was to 
the discharge of the outward duties of a religious 
life, — including those of the most private devo- 
tional nature, — he was, nevertheless, a stranger to 
the power and malignity of "the strong man 
armed" that possessed the castle of his heart, 
until the approach of a a stronger than he" to 
dislodge him; and this called them into terrific 
exercise. When the hour of submission came 
and my friend found peace and joy in believing, 
the reality of the transformation was as distinctly 
marked as it would be in an Ethiopian who should 
change his skin, or in a leopard who should shed 
his spots. He at once made a public profession of 
his faith, relinquished the practice of law, and 
has been for many years an able and successful 
minister of the New Testament. 

Oftentimes, however, the mysterious process is 
accomplished with little, if any, external emotion. 
It is as silent and gradual as that of leaven in the 
measure of meal ; and there are instances in which 
the nature to be changed is so gentle and childlike 



A REPRESENTATIVE CASE. 213 

that the putting off of the old man and the putting 
on of the new is like the turn of the tide or the 
emergence of the dawn, — definite, and in point of 
fact certain, but imperceptible in point of time. 
In other cases each step in the process is as dis- 
tinctly taken, and each stage as consciously passed, 
as were the steps and stages of the man Moses 
when he ascended Sinai to commune with Jeho- 
vah. One such case occurs to my mind, which 
may stand as a representative of thousands. 

Mr. P was a native of Connecticut, where 

he enjoyed the advantages of judicious home and 
school culture. He graduated at Yale College ; 
studied law ; married and settled in Western New 
York. Being a shrewd business man, he soon 
acquired wealth ; and, finding the field of his 
operations too narrow for his ambition, he deter- 
mined to dispose of his large real estate and take 
up his residence and pursue his profession in the 
city of New York. While this was in contempla- 
tion, a deep religious excitement pervaded the 
neighbourhood. He purposely avoided subjecting 
himself to its influence ; and, with the hope of 
finding occupation for the evening at a public 
lecture or~ some political gathering, he sallied out, 



214 A REPRESENTATIVE CASE. 

and, meeting with a friend, inquired if there were 
any thing of interest going on. 

" Why," said his friend, " I do not know that 
there is any thing that would interest you. Re- 
ligion seems to be at the top just now. There is 
a prayer-meeting for members of the church at 
Hall ; and a prayer-meeting for young con- 
verts in Dr. ? s lecture-room ; and a meeting 

for inquirers at Mr. 's house in * * * * * 

Street ; but I guess there is nothing going on that 
would be likely to suit you!' 

The thought flashed on Mr. P- 's mind, " No 

meeting for me ! I am neither an inquirer, nor a 
convert, nor a professor." 

He was uneasy, and could not conceal it. A 
tract was given to him, and he read it, but found 
nothing to allay his anxiety or shed light on his 
path, — though it was of some service in directing 
his thoughts. He prayed, read the Bible and 
attended several times upon the unusual religious 
services which were appointed ; but all to no 
purpose. Business now lost its attractions. The 
plan of removing to the city was abandoned, and 
the world suddenly became a blank to him. He 
spent whole days alone in his office, taking the 



A REPRESENTATIVE CASE. 215 

key inside and answering no knocks. Finally he 
resolved to put an end to such indecision. 

One evening he went into his office, lighted an 
extra-sized spermaceti candle and laid another 
one on the table by his side, took his Bible and 
determined that he would never leave that spot 
till he had fixed his mind on one side or the other 
and cleared up all his doubts. He began to read; 
but it soon became an irksome task. He leaned 
back in his chair and began to reason thus with 
himself : — " Why, this is all folly. I am required 
to love the Lord Jesus Christ. This is merely a 
matter of feeling. Well, to feel, I must see a person 
or know something of him ; but I have no idea of 
Christ as an object of peculiar affection or interest. 
On what ground am I required to give him my 
heart ? Has he done any thing for me ? He is 
said to have saved me ; but from what ? What 
was my condition, that rendered his interposition 
necessary ? Looking back upon my life, I find I 
have done — what ? Why, absolutely nothing, but 
take care of myself and seek my own gratifica- 
tion. I have not had in view the glory of God — 
my Creator and preserver and benefactor — in a 
single act. I have not sought the welfare of my 



216 A REPRESENTATIVE CASE. 

fellow-creatures. I have been absorbed with self. 
Well, is not all this contrary to the will of God ? 
Can there be fellowship between such a God as 
has taken care of me all my life long, and even 
sent his Son to die for me, and such a selfish 
creature as I am ?" 

He pondered this view of himself till he had 
such an idea of the contrast between God's law 
and his own character that he says " the thought 
of going into the divine presence was like being 
pushed up to the mouth of a seven-times-heated 
furnace. It was intolerable !" 

"And did Christ throw himself into such a 
deadly breach for me ?" he asked. " Did he bear 
the stroke of Almighty vengeance and die that a 
sinner such as I am might live? Why, this is 
literally 

' Love beyond degree/ 

Were my dearest earthly friend to do such a 
thing for me, I could not find w T ords to express my 
admiration and gratitude ; but there is every 
thing in my character to make it odious in ihe 
sight of every holy being. So true is it that 
6 while we were yet enemies, Christ died for us ! " 
Tie soon found himself admiring the holim 



A REPRESENTATIVE CASE. 217 

and perfection of the law, government and charac- 
ter of God, while he loathed and abhorred him- 
self as a sinner and joyfully accepted Christ as 
the Rock of his salvation. Late in the night he 
went to bed, resolved, by God's grace, to begin a 
life of communion with Him. As soon as day 
dawned, he addressed himself to new duties, 
under the influence of new motives. A course of 
active piety succeeded. He abandoned secular 
business and betook himself at once to efforts for 
the salvation of souls, and has been from that 
day ? and still is, an earnest labourer in the Lord's 
vineyard. 

I apprehend that the marks of a radical, moral 
change in this man's nature were as distinct as 
those which attended the restoration of the lame 
man at the gate of the temple, who had been lame 
from his mother's womb, but who by -the name of 
Jesus of Nazareth received such strength in his 
66 feet and ankle-bones" that he entered with the 
apostles — who had been the instruments of his 
cure — into the temple, " walking and leaping and 
praising God." 

Supposing the process which we have been 
analyzing works a real, substantial change in the 

19 



218 SOUND REASONING. 

character and dispositions of a human being, 
and his relations to God, so essential that 
without it there can be no admission into the 
kingdom of heaven, I persuade myself that you 
are ready to inquire what you can do towards its 
accomplishment in your own heart. I think I 
hear you say, If such a change is the starting- 
point in a life of devotion to God, I can be neither 
safe nor happy until it occurs ; and surely it will 
be a source of great satisfaction to me to look 
back upon an active life spent in his service, rather 
than upon a few months, or even years, for which 
I could find no other employment. 

This is sound reasoning. When spending the 
Lord's day in Charleston, S.C., some years since, 
I was mis-informed as to the time of public 
worship, and, having a half-hour unexpectedly 
on my hands, I strolled through the graveyard 
adjoining one of the oldest churches in that city. 
My eye fell upon a moss-covered grave-stone, on 
which was inscribed the name of a person who 
died at the age of eighty.* The inscription stated 
that sixty-eight years she was an exemplary 

* I am not confident of the exacl age ; but it ^svas near this, and 
the proportions not less. 



A QUESTION. 219 

member of that church, showing that she joined 
it at the early age of twelve. Who would wish 
the number set against such a record of his life to 
be exchanged for two, or twelve, or twenty-two, 
or fifty-two, or even sixty-seven, years ? 

It is an interesting question, which some of you 
have more than once asked, Whether the time of 
such a revolution in the character is not entirely 
beyond our own control? This may indirectly 
involve a subject of speculative theology, which I 
am neither competent nor inclined to discuss ; for, 
as you know, we have never allowed such ques- 
tions a place in our studies. But experience and 
observation may aid us in determining, in part, to 
what extent this important crisis may be retarded 
or hastened by human agency. 

If we look back upon life, we can discover 
many incidents which, though trivial in them- 
selves, have given an important direction to our 
pursuits or essentially affected our character, which 
were apparently within our control. When I was 
a little boy, living in a country town, I was sent 
with a light, covered pail to a grocery for some 
brown sugar. It was not too heavy for me to carry. 
I had more than once done the same errand alone. 



220 A CASE. 

On my way home, I met another boy, about my 
age, with whom I had been forbidden to play 
because he was believed to be very vicious ; and 
he offered to take hold of one side of the pail and 
help me to carry it. I was perfectly conscious of 
pleasure at the thought of having any plausible 
excuse for being in his company. 

I could have said, " No ! I thank you : it is not 
too heavy for me to carry." But I accepted his 
offer. He turned about and went with me. That 
Avalk of fifteen minutes was one of the most im- 
portant events of my life. Wrong impressions 
were made upon my mind which will never, never 
be effaced while I live. That one act of disobedi- 
ence to the known will of my parents changed the 
current of my moral feelings, just as a pebble or 
a twig turns the little bubbling brook and may de- 
termine its course when swollen to a mighty river. 
It removed, for the time, one of the barriers which 
parental love would provide for my safety. And 
but for the interposition of a kind Providence 
might have proved the turning-point in my history. 
It would not be difficult to fill a volume with illus- 
trations of the principle that, in the appointments 
of divine Providence, men choose for themselvrs 



MRS. JUDSON. 221 

what to do and what not to do, and upon that 
choice are suspended results of stupendous interest. 

You know how it is in the ordinary affairs of 
life. You are about to take a journey. There 
are various routes and various times of setting 
out. You ascertain and compare them, and 
finallj decide to go by rail at ten o'clock. A 
carriage is ordered in season, but does not come, 
and you are disappointed. The train you intended 
to take meets with a terrible disaster, — so terrible 
and general as to make it scarcely possible that 
you could have escaped. Why were you not 
there ? The little child of the owner and driver 
of the carriage swallowed a bean with which he 
was playing, and was in danger of being strangled. 
This absorbed the father's attention, and he forgot 
his engagement. All parties in this case acted 
with perfect freedom ; and yet the act of each had 
an essential bearing on the conduct and interests 
of others. 

You have read, I presume, the eventful history 
of Mrs. Ann H. Judson, and have admired the 
fortitude and patience with which she encountered 
the most appalling trials of life among the heathen, 
and the constancy with which she maintained 

19* 



222 MRS. JUDSON. 

her faith when all hope seemed to be cut off. 
The step which, to all human appearance, decided 
the question whether she should be a giddy 
votary of the world or a disciple of Jesus of 
Nazareth, was taken, in a moment of time, at a 
party of pleasure. 

The record of her religious exercises is em- 
braced in several biographies ; but there is a scrap 
of personal history which is so pertinent to the 
subject in hand, and so unlikely to reach you from 
any other source, that I cannot refrain from giving 
it. It shall be in the very words of the narrator, 
as they were committed to paper a few hours only 
after they were spoken : — 

"In 1806 I was preceptor of the academy at 
Bradford, (Mass.) I had not such a hope in the 
genuineness of my own conversion that I was 
willing to enter the sacred ministry, to which I 
had looked forward from my boyhood, but was 
waiting for that preparation of heart which is 

from the Lord. I boarded in Mr. H 's family. 

He and his wife and four daughters (one of whom, 
Ann, became the wife of Dr. Judson) were then 
uninterested in the subject of personal religion. 
Mr. II maintained a form of prayer ; and we 



MRS. JUDSON. 223 

were accustomed to lead the devotions of the 
family alternately. The daughters and their 
companions generally were very gay and frivolous, 
— as were the pupils of the academy and the 
people generally. 

"A social party in the neighbourhood brought 
together a large number of the most influential 
families of Bradford and the adjoining town of 
Haverhill. It was a very large and gay assem- 
blage. Soon after tea, having determined to take 
a stand against the prevailing worldliness and 
vain amusements, I left the company and went 
into another room. Soon others followed ; and 
among them were two* whose connections and 
education gave them great influence. I expressed 
»my surprise and mortification that I had been 
there a year, and had so lived as to lead them to 
suppose that such a scene of mirth and folly 
could be agreeable to me. We conversed freely 
upon the manners and customs, the pursuits and 
amusements, which were allowed or forbidden to 
those who have professed to deny the world and 
to have forsaken its pomps and vanities. We did 

* Miss Ann Hazeltine, before mentioned ; and Miss Harriet 
At wood, afterwards Mrs. Newell. 



224 MRS. JUDSON. 

not return to the convivial circle ; and the decided 
stand taken that night was never abandoned. 
A marked seriousness was observed in the indi- 
viduals concerned, which continued and extended 
to other families. This became a subject of 
remark. The young ladies maintained their 
ground; and, in the general attention to religion 
which followed, the two to whom we have par- 
ticularly referred became the disciples of Christ. 
The religious exercises through which they passed, 
before and after this period, are minutely stated in 
their published biographies. 

a As I led the devotions of the family one 

morning, while Miss H was under deep 

religious impressions, I commended her to the 
grace of God ; and the next morning her father, in 
attempting to lead in the form of prayer to which 
he had always been accustomed, became so con- 
fused that he paused, sat down and wept profusely. 
This was on Friday. The Tuesday following found 
him a happy believer in the gospel ; and his wife 
and four daughters soon after united with him in 
a public profession of their faith. 

"A Miss W was a pupil of the academy. 

Her father was a magistrate and a man of much 



miss w . 225 

influence. When they found that their daughter, 
on whose education they had bestowed great 
expense, was inclined to a religious life, they 
were quite indignant, and hoped she ' would not 
make a fool of herself/ She embraced religion, 
and in about a year afterwards died suddenly in a 
fit. Her parents after her death were inexpres- 
sibly grateful for the hope they had that she was 
not unprepared. 

"A Mr. F , of Boston, had a daughter and 

niece at the academy, who were both interested in 
the subject of religion. When the term ended, 
he expressed his desire that if they should return 
to the academy I would desist from any conver- 
sation with them on religious subjects. I replied 
that I had always found free conversation with 
my pupils, on their studies and pursuits, tended to 
give me such a knowledge of them as our rela- 
tions to each other required ; and, as their religious 
interests were certainly paramount, I could not 
refrain from proper and seasonable reference to 
them. ' Then,' replied Mr. F — : — , c they come 
here no more !' 

"When the vacation expired, however, their 
father found them so steadfastly intent upon return- 



226 FRUITS OF DECISION. 

ing that he consented. They both became subjects 
of grace, and were instrumental in inducing their 
father to attend at an evangelical place of worship. 

" Much anxiety was expressed lest the absorb- 
ing interest excited by these scenes should inter- 
fere with the proper duties of the academy, and 
that the trustees, some of whom were not friendly 
to religious emotion of any kind, would throw 
obstacles in the way of further proceedings in 
that direction; but the public examination was 
more than usually satisfactory, and God was 
pleased to convert one of the Board of Trustees, 
from whom opposition was chiefly expected ; and 
none was shown. Soon after, the clergyman of 
the place publicly deplored his past negligence 
and unfaithfulness in dispensing the truth; and 
thirty were added to his church as the fruits of 
the religious attention then in progress. So much 
for a single conscientious stand taken resolutely 
against ' the world, the flesh and the devil.' ' 

In the most trivial occurrences of life there 
often lies concealed a chain of events so intricate 
and so extended that the mind is lost in the 
attempt to trace its unwinding. 

Indeed, it sometimes startles one to think with 



INFLUENCES. 227 

what thoughtlessness the ordinary business of life 
is transacted, when every step is taken in such 
utter uncertainty as to its consequences. Not 
only are the issues of our present existence ; our 
happiness and that of our friends; our character; 
our influence; our social engagements and our 
success or failure in business, dependent on these 
single isolated acts, but the complexion of an 
endless future may be taken from them. A 
mistake made in a moment, and with scarcely a 
thought, may entail upon ourselves and upon 
those connected with us a series of calamities 
from the very thought of which we turn with 
dismay. 

Is it strange, then, that in the matter of the 
soul's salvation so much may depend on a single 
act? Such is our constitution, and such the 
constitution of the moral government under which 
we live, that it cannot be otherwise. You are 
asked to read a book ; to join a Bible-class ; or to 
go on an excursion to a picnic ; to take a walk, or 
to attend a particular religious service. Your ear 
receives the invitation and carries it to the mind. 
It is considered with more or less deliberation 
and accepted or rejected. Is it any thing strange 



228 RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 

that the decision of such a question should be 
followed by a train of consequences terminating, 
perhaps, far, far beyond human thought, on the 
other side of the grave ? 

We are all familiar with those periods in our 
religious annals that are called "revivals," — 
a phrase importing legitimately nothing more 
than a season when "those who profess and 
call themselves Christians" are led to a more 
diligent discharge of their duty, and the careless 
and thoughtless are excited to inquire with 
unusual earnestness what they shall do to be 
saved. The means of grace may not be any 
more available than before ; nor is the way into 
the kingdom of God broader or easier than it 
always has been. The simple rationale of the 
thing is, that prayers of the servants of God are 
more fervent, and the means of exciting attention 
to the perils of the soul and the retributions of 
eternity are more faithfully and perseveringly 
used ; and in answer to these prayers and as the 
result of the use of these means, an extraordinary 
interest is awakened to the subject, and many are 
found seeking the way of life and peace. 

Such seasons, though fraught with rich bless- 



ACCEPTED TIMES. 229 

ings to the Church of Christ, are .not without 
corresponding dangers. Many mistake transient 
excitement for a change of principle, and the 
emotions of sympathy with those around them 
for supreme love to God wrought in the soul by 
the power of the Holy Spirit. But, nevertheless, 
periods of unusual interest and religious inquiry 
are eminently favourable to an entertainment and 
decision of the question of personal salvation. 
There is often a peculiar tenderness of conscience ; 
the introduction of the subject is less embarrass- 
ing and more natural at such a time ; and more 
freedom is felt by interested friends in urging the 
acceptance of an offered Saviour : so that, while 
we do well to guard against mere impulse and 
excitement, we greatly err if we neglect the 
appointed means of grace or misimprove the 
favourable opportunity which such a season 
presents for securing the " great salvation." It 
may be 

"The hidden boundary between 
God's patience and his wrath." 

20 



230 HOPE. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

What is satisfactory evidence of a good Christian hope — A simple 
view of Us origin and foundation — The office of the law of God 
— No injustice in the dispensation of mercy — The assurance of 
hope. 

You ask, What is satisfactory evidence of the 
possession of a Christian hope ? In answering 
this question, we shall do well to confine our 
attention to the simplest view of the subject. To 
treat of it methodically would be beyond my 
sphere. You have opportunities for that higher 
grade of instruction from those who are called 
to the office of public teachers of religion, in your 
several places of worship. There are a few thoughts, 
however, that fall in with my present purpose, 
which may not be unprofitably considered. 

We have seen that the only foundation for 
Christian hope (as the term itself implies) is 
Christ ; for it has relation to the perfections and 
promises of God in Christ, and to the whole work 
of human redemption, beginning, continuing and 



HOPE. 231- 

ending in Christ. It is the same, in 7cind, with 
any other hope. The sick man hopes to recover, 
and the poor man hopes to be rich. The object 
of hope must be something desirable and attain- 
able. No one hopes that he shall not die; but 
every one hopes to avoid death by a slow fire or 
by crucifixion. Hope is to the heart of man 
what the air is to his lungs, — essential to exist- 
ence. In the most desperate extremity it in- 
spires courage and prompts to effort. In the 
narrative of the shipwreck suffered by the 
Apostle Paul on the voyage to Rome, we are 
told that " when neither sun nor stars in many 
days appeared, and no small tempest lay on them, 
all hope that they should be saved was taken 
away." But there was one hopeful heart on 
board. Their Christian prisoner exhorted them 
to be of good cheer, for he could assure them of 
safety; and his hope in the special promise of 
God excited their hope and induced confidence in 
his assurance that not a hair should fall from the 
head of any one of them; and forthwith they 
went to work manfully, lightened the ship and 
made toward the shore, which they reached and 
" escaped all safe to land." Paul's hope was 



232 hope. 

closely connected with his faith. An angel 
brought a message to him from God, and, 
" believing that it should be even as it was told 
him/' his hope became as an anchor to his soul. 
There are certain laws of vegetable life, the 
operation of which is uniform and open to obser- 
vation : so that 

" There is hope of a tree, 
If it be cut down, that it will sprout again, 
And that the tender branch thereof will not cease. 
Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, 
And the stock thereof die in the ground, 
Yet through tjie scent of water it will bud 
And bring forth boughs like a plant." 

The Christian hope is founded on laws not less 
exact and uniform than those of the natural 
world. God, the supreme ruler of the universe, 
requires us to love him with all the heart and 
soul and mind and strength, and our neighbour as 
ourselves. Obedience to this precept would make 
us holy and, therefore, happy. We have trans- 
gressed it, and are condemned by it. Conscience 
is beforehand with the Judge, and forces us to 
confess our guilt. " The law," being but an ex- 
pression of the divine will, is of course "holy 
and just and good ;" and it makes no provision 



THE DIVINE LAW. 233 

for the pardon of transgressors. It is not, like 
laws of human enactment, blindly made and 
blindly administered, and so making necessary 
reviews, new trials, reversals of judgment, and 
pardons. The divine law was framed with a 
perfect knowledge of all possible contingencies 
of human actions and all possible bearings of 
human motives and influences ; and it is adminis- 
tered with infinite and unerring rectitude. No- 
thing in heaven, on earth, or beneath the earth can 
possibly affect in the slightest degree the exact 
equipoise in which the balance is held : so that 
nothing can be more hopeless than the condition 
of the transgressor of such a law under such a 
government. No wonder the apostle should 
exclaim, " It is a fearful thing to fall into the 
hands of the living God !" 

In this desperate extremity of the human 
soul, the voice of mercy is heard. A free 
pardon, full salvation and eternal life are offered 
to the chief of sinners. To appreciate such glad 
tidings, one must be conscious of the impossibility 
of escaping the just judgment of God in the 
irrevocable exile of the guilty from his presence, 
and of course from all the joys and hopes which 

-2iP 



234 THE DIVINE LAW. 

his immortal nature must forever crave. We 
need not resort to the fearful imagery which 
the writers of Holy Scripture (under divine 
guidance) employ to set forth the ultimate des- 
tiny of those who die impenitent. Privation — 
exclusion — what they shall not feel — what they 
shall not know : — this is a penalty sufficiently 
appalling. 

A school-boy was disobedient to his mother. 
It was not the first time. Kind reproof had 
followed affectionate expostulation; but there 
seemed to be a purpose of heart to resist the 
mother's authority. The father came home to 
dinner and was told of the child's offence. He 
went out and stood upon the doorstep, awaiting 
his return from school. He soon appeared, with 
his arm full of books, and a playful smile upon 
his face, when the following dialogue took 
place : — 

Father. — "Well, my son, I am sorry to find 
that you cannot make this your home any longer. 
Even in such a little community as our family, 
peace and happiness depend on a compliance with 
the laws of the house. Your mother and I are 
invested with authority over you, and, without 



THE DIVINE LAW. 235 

obedience on the part of our children, we shall 
soon have general disorder and consequent suffer- 
ing. You do not seem disposed to submit to this 
government; and we think it better that you 
should seek a home more to your mind." 

Child. — " But, father, I don't want any better 
home." 

Father. — " That maybe; but ive want a more 
dutiful son ; and if you remain and continue to 
disobey us, the other children will become dis- 
obedient ; and if one law is broken, all may .be ; 
and then, you know, peace and happiness will be 
at an end. No ! I will take your books, and you 
can go where you like and select a home where 
you can have your own way." 

Child. — " But who will take me ? Everybody 
will ask me where I came from, and wiry I went 
away from you." This was said with compressed 
lips and evident emotion. 

Father. — " Perhaps they will ; and you can tell 
them that you had a father and mother who 
insisted on your obeying them, and you refused, 
and so they said you could not stay with them." 

(Just at this point the dinner-bell was heard 
within-doors.) 



236 THE DIVINE LAW. 

" There ! I must go in to dinner ; and you can 
go where you please." 

His lip quivered ; the tears rushed to his eyes 
in a flood. His spirit was thoroughly subdued ; 
and he promised that if forgiveness could be 
extended to him he would henceforth be an 
obedient and tractable son. The thought of being 
disowned by his father and mother and excluded 
from the protection and enjoyments of a happy 
home filled him with grief and fear. Not to be 
at home was to be without safety or pleasure. 

SO NOT TO BE IN HEAVEN IS TO BE IN HELL. 

Hope in the pardoning mercy of God must 
have a firm foundation, or it will perish ; and it 
can be built only on a sincere and cordial ac- 
quiescence in the divine will. It is only when 
we see that the law which condemns us is holy 
and just and good, that the grace which pardons 
us appears rich and free and boundless. There is 
a passage of Scripture which to many persons is 
entirely enigmatical ; and yet the language is very 
simple and its meaning very obvious : — " The law 
of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Ps. 
xix. 7. 

If we consider the force of these terms sepa- 



THE DIVINE LAW. 237 

rately, we shall more easily comprehend their entire 
meaning. " The law of the Lord" is the whole 
revealed will of God. It applies to the govern- 
ment of all worlds, — spiritual and material. It 
is, in fact, a transcript of the divine character, 
the image of the invisible God, impressed on all 
his works and ways. The biography and teach- 
ings of our divine Redeemer constitute a com- 
plete commentary on the law of God. His spot- 
less life exhibits its extent and spirituality, 
while his mysterious passion and death illustrate 
to angels and men the infinite inviolability of its 
sanctions. Of course it must be a perfect law. 
But how does it convert the soul ? 

The strength and safety of a wall depend upon 
its being perfectly upright. With the first brick 
or stone that projects from the true line begins an 
irregularity that will grow more and more obvious 
and dangerous as the wall rises : so the workman 
is furnished with an instrument called a plumb- 
line, w r hich is so contrived that if applied to the 
sides of the w r all it will at once reveal the 
slightest departure from an exact perpendicular. 
The least projection or depression will appear, 
and at this stage of the work is easily corrected : 



238 THE PROFLIGATE. 

so that we may say of a perfect plumb-line that 
it first reveals the irregularities of the wall and 
it is then drawn into conformity with itself. 

We have been an inmate for a day or two of a 
happy, godly family, — the parents intelligent, 
judicious and devoted to the happiness of their 
children, and they (with a single exception) duti- 
ful and affectionate to their parents. The father 
was a man of most exemplary habits. His piety 
was a fountain of peace and joy, revealed in all 
his words and ways. His cheerful temper and 
uniform kindness to everybody and every thing 
could not but be attractive to all beholders. But 
his second son was a profligate. In his early 
school-days he began to exhibit a perverseness of 
character, which was encouraged by evil company ; 
and neither the correction, nor the reproof, nor 
the instruction which he received from parents 
and teachers seemed to have the slightest in- 
fluence to turn him from his crooked ways. At 
length he was detected in a grave offence, and, 
under an assumed name, became the tenant of a 
convict's cell. All intercourse between him and 
his abused and disgraced family had ceased ; and 



THE PROFLIGATE. 239 

he had studiously concealed from them his resi- 
dence and pursuits. 

In the quiet twilight hour of one Lord's day 
evening, as he was musing in the solitude of the 
prison-house, suddenly, and without any conscious 
cause, he was transported in fancy to his father's 
house. The same thing had happened before, 
and he had hastened to divert his mind from the 
painful vision. But now there was a strange 
welcome ready for it; and he was soon completely 
absorbed in a review 7 of his depraved and foolish 
life. Such a home as he had voluntarily for- 
saken ! Such infatuation as had drawn him 
away from the society of the virtuous and happy 
and made him the companion of fools, — an object 
of reproach and derision ! How could it be ? 

But that which impressed him most deeply was 
the remembrance of his father's faithful and 
affectionate treatment. He could not but call to 
mind the graces of his father's character, the 
faultlessness of his example, the purity of the 
motives which evidently governed him, and the 
elevated and dignified position he held among his 
fellow-men ; and the contrast with his own irre- 
trievable disgrace and degraded condition filled 



240 THE PENITENT. 

him with the deepest mortification and regret. 
He saw the unreasonableness and meanness of his 
conduct in the glowing light of his godly father's 
example, and could not but abhor a character 
(though it was his own) every trait of which was 
at variance with it. He saw that the tendency 
of the law which had governed him was to mar 
and destroy all virtue and happiness ; and a com- 
parison of his life with the law by which his 
father was evidently governed, revealed its 
hideous deformity and filled him with self-loathing 
and penitence. He sought and found help in his 
time of need, and forthwith turned his steps to 
the straight and narrow path which his father 
was treading. 

The " perfect law of the Lord" is given to us 
as the rule of our life. It is the law which 
secures the happiness and purity of the countless 
hosts of heaven. It embodies the infinite holiness 
of God; and perfect obedience to it brings the 
soul into the most absolute and intimate com- 
munion with God of which it is capable. It is 
as impossible for a finite mind to comprehend the 
holiness of God's law, as it is to comprehend his 
existence or his attributes of justice and mercy. 



THE PERFECT PATTERN. 241 

They are all "past finding out." The earthly 
course of the Redeemer gives us the clearest view 
we could possibly have of the perfection of the 
law of the Lord, 

"For in his life that law appears, 
Drawn out in living characters." 

A steady contemplation of this heavenly 
pattern can scarcely fail (under the promised 
blessing of God's Spirit) to excite in a reflecting 
mind a deep abhorrence of sin in every shade 
and degree. Nor can we compare with this 
divine rule the conduct and temper of the holiest 
child of Adam that ever lived, without perceiving 
at once the appalling deficiencies. It was a view 
of the holiness of the character of God that led 
the patriarch to exclaim, " I have heard of thee 
by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye 
seeth thee ; wherefore I abhor myself and repent 
in dust and ashes." Such, upon the apostle's mind, 
was the effect of a just perception of the require- 
ments of this law that all hope of salvation under 
it was instantly extinguished. Without the law, 
or a proper sense of its purity, he was alive. He 
seemed to himself to have the functions of a 

spiritually living man. But when the command- 
q 21 



242 THE OFFICE OF THE LAW. 

nient came, with its broad and unyielding demand 
of conduct, Be ye holy, for I am holy, — sin revived, 
and he died. Sin was seen to be the living, active 
principle. He found he must look to some source 
of life out of himself, as by the law no flesh 
living could be justified. Thus the law became a 
pedagogue to lead him to Christ, as servants are 
employed to lead young children to school. 

The power of sin and the intimacy of sin and 
the soul are set forth by the great apostle. The 
law is represented as sustaining the same relation 
to the soul that the husband and wife sustain to 
each other. The soul is bound to obedrence, and 
the law controls its destiny ; and there is nothing 
that can separate them but the death of one or 
the other. If the soul dies to the law or ceases to 
live by it, or if the law dies to the soul or ceases 
to be a source of life, the surviving party is at 
liberty to form a new connection. The sinner is 
bound to the law so long as the law is to him the 
source of life, and obedience to it a ground of 
hope or a means of salvation ; but when the law, 
as a medium of salvation, is disowned, then the 
soul can be united to Christ ; but it must be a 
perfect, untrammelled union. Every thought of the 



THE OFFICE OF THE LAW. 243 

dead law, as source of life or peace, is the token of a 
divided and inconstant, if not a treacherous, mind. 

The soul that is thus brought to see its sinful- 
ness in the light of the law of God ; to feel its 
poverty and helplessness, and to cast itself on 
the mercy of God in Christ Jesus for salvation, is 
converted ; and thus it is that the perfect law of 
the Lord converts the soul. 

It is not, however, by any inherent power in 
itself that the law accomplishes this work. It is 
the special office of the Holy Spirit — the Comforter 
— who is sent into the world to convince men of sin, 
to reveal to them the deep and dreadful depravity 
of their nature and their need of a righteousness 
not their own, to render. them acceptable to God. 

We see, then, that to the transgressor of God's 
law the gates of heaven can never be unbarred 
until some adequate atonement is made for his 
sin. There is a bountiful feast, prepared at great 
expense ; and the invitations are extended gratui- 
tously to all; but the guests must accept, and 
must, moreover, be arrayed in a prescribed dress, 
before they enter the banqueting-room, or they 
will be ignominiously thrust out. The dress is 
furnished gratuitously, as well as the feast. You 



244 FAITH AND HOPE. 

are aware of the force of this figure. Without a 
better righteousness than any which our apostate 
nature can attain, we can never find our way into 
the kingdom of heaven. Hence the devout 
"believer exclaims, — 

1 ' Jesus, thy blood and righteousness 
My beauty are, my glorious dress ; 
'Midst flaming worlds, in these array'd, 
With joy shall I lift up my head." * 

It is not one sin, nor any number of sins, that 
exclude us from the " bright world of joy." It 
is a sinful nature. As we have already seen, 
this nature must be renewed; and one of the fruits 
or qualities of that renewed nature is faith, or 
the power of spiritually discerning things which 
the carnal or unrenewed nature can neither see 
nor know. Another is hope, which rests securely 
in the promise and covenant of God, as the ship's 
anchor takes sure and steadfast hold in the hidden 
depths of the ocean. To the eye of faith, Christ 
crucified is revealed as * c the Lord our righteous- 
ness." By his obedience, sufferings and death, he 
wrought out a righteousness of which the believer 
is by faith made a partaker. How this perfect 

* Hymn by Zinzendorf, translated by John Wesley. 



CHANGE OF RELATIONS. 245 

righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ avails, in 
the counsels of eternal purity and truth, to the 
justification of the believing soul, so that it may 
be said that Christ, " who knew no sin, is made 
sin for us/' and that we, who are altogether sinful, 
are " made the righteousness of God in him," is 
beyond all finite comprehension. We are to 
receive the revelation of such a scheme of mercy 
with, the deepest reverence and humility. And 
the moment the sinner accepts this offer of a 
free salvation — which he is made willing to do in 
the day of God's power- — his moral relations 
are changed. The power of sin is subdued. 
To serve Christ his Redeemer is thenceforth 
his supreme desire and steady purpose. He 
hears or reads the invitation addressed indis- 
criminately to all men by the Saviour himself: — 
" Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest." He believes 
that the utterer of these words — who was once 
on the earth in human form, conversing with 
men, eating, drinking and sleeping as we do, yet 
evincing, by the signs and wonders which he did, 
his absolute divinity — now lives in heaven and 
dispenses gifts of mercy and grace to all needy 

21* 



246 THE HOPE OF GLORY. 

suppliants. He believes that he virtually accepts 
the invitation if he obeys Christ's precepts and 
conforms to his example. His faith relies on the 
historical facts that Christ died for his sins, that 
he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven 
and obtained gifts for men. In the light shed 
upon his conscience by the divine Spirit, he sees 
himself to be a sinner, condemned by God's law, 
and in himself incapable of restoration to the 
favour of his heavenly Father. And the Saviour, 
who presents himself as an object of his faith and 
supreme love, is just suited to his forlorn condi- 
tion ; for he does all for him when he cannot do 
any thing for himself. Thus Christ is formed in 
him the hope of glory. And now his language is, — 

" Sweet were the bitterest smart 

That, with the bended knee, 

Would bow this broken heart ; 
For who, my Saviour, who could be 
A sufferer long that flies to thee ? 

"As needle to the pole 

There fix'd, but tremblingly, 

Such be my trusting soul 
Whate'er life's variations be, 
Forever pointing, Lord, to thee !" 

There is something in this feature of the 
economy of divine grace which has occasionally 



MISAPPREHENSION OF PRINCIPLES. 247 

perplexed even persons of intelligence and can- 
dour. It is said that no account is made of the 
natural virtues and graces of the human character. 
A truthful, ingenuous, affectionate disposition is, 
in the sight of men, of great price. Is it less so 
in the sight of God ? Are the generous, manly, 
heroic spirits whose deeds have adorned the an- 
nals of our race to be ranked with the selfish and 
craven, whose existence has been either a blank or 
a blot ? Will you put honesty and fraud, chastity 
and dissoluteness, honour and infamy, — the best 
and the worst, — on the same level? Does not this 
encourage the wicked to pursue their evil ways? 

These questions spring from a misapprehension 
of principles. Shall I venture to attempt a solu- 
tion of the difficulty by an illustration ? A large 
landholder employs a thousand men to cultivate 
his farm. They are at liberty to use whatever 
they can raise ; and he who reaps a thousand 
bushels of wheat from an acre of ground shall 
become the sole owner of his estate. They enter 
upon their work. Those who are industrious and 
skilful obtain larger harvests than they can con- 
sume. None but the careless and idle fail to 
secure a comfortable livelihood; while even the 



248 THE GENEROUS LANDHOLDER. 

most diligent does not approach the product 
which is to secure for him the ownership of the 
farm. Not an hour's labour is bestowed by any 
which does not find a reward independently of 
the munificent conditional donation. The hands 
are all dismissed at the close of the season ; and 
has any injustice been done ? Has not each 
received what it was agreed he should have ? 

Now, suppose the landholder concludes to give 
away his estate, unconditionally ; and, for reasons 
best known to himself, selects as the object of his 
bounty one of the most idle and thriftless of the 
hands who had been employed on his farm. Does 
it lie in the mouth of the nine hundred and 
ninety-nine to say that the reward of their 
industry is any less for such an act, or that 
it operates as a premium on idleness and sloth ? 
The reward of their industry was a matter of 
debt. Those who earned their living enjoyed it. 
The bestowment of the farm was a matter of 
grace ; and w T as received and improved as such. 
He who received it acknowledged that he had 
no title to it, and that it might have been bestowed 
with equal justice on any other. 

The virtues which adorned the character of the 



THE UNEQUAL DEBTORS. 249 

young ruler who came running and kneeling before 
the Saviour were so rare and conspicuous as to 
command his love ; but while he lacked one thing 
the gates of paradise were as effectually barred 
against him as against those who lack every 
thing. The whole scheme of human salvation is 
characterized by this grand feature, — grace — free 
grace ; and hence the virtuous and admirable 
traits which we justly applaud and present for 
imitation — though of great value to the possessor 
and of inestimable advantage to society — are of 
no account in determining how the gifts of grace 
shall be distributed. If a score of debtors owe 
more than they can possibly pay, an inexorable 
creditor will not discriminate between the different 
amounts of their indebtedness. They will be 
cast into a common prison. Such an inexorable 
creditor to us is the law of works. His language 
is, "Pay me that thou owest." And he will 
not allow us to depart till we have paid the 
uttermost farthing. But in an appeal for relief to 
a throne of grace, the terms of acceptance are all 
changed. He who owes five hundred pounds is 
no worse off than he who owes fifty or only one. 
It is not wealth, but want, — not innocence, but 



250 THE MONK AND THE PRODIGAL. 

penitence, — not obedience, but faith, — that finds 
acceptance there. 

There is a story told by a Persian poet, re- 
sembling, though utterly inferior to, the narrative 
of the interview, at the house of Simon the 
pharisee, between Christ and the woman that 
was a sinner. 

The poet says that when the divine prophet was 
on earth he was entertained on one occasion in the 
cell of a monk, or dervish, of eminent reputation 
for sanctity. In the same city there dwelt a youth 
who was distinguished for being addicted to gross 
sins. This youth presently appeared before the 
cell of the monk, and, as if smitten by the pre- 
sence of the divine prophet, began to lament 
bitterly the sin and misery of his past life, and 
with abundant tears implored pardon and grace. 
The monk, indignantly rebuking his presumption 
for thus appearing in his presence and that of 
God's holy prophet, assured him that it was in vain 
for him to ask forgiveness ; and, in proof of the 
inexorable doom of the poor youth, he exclaimed, 
"May God grant me but one thing, — that I may 
stand far from this man on the day of judgment I" 
On this the divine prophet said, "The prayer of 



THE MONK AND THE PRODIGAL. 25 1 

both shall be granted. This sinful but penitent 
youth has sought mercy in an accepted time ; and 
it shall be shown him. His sins, though many, 
are forgiven. This monk desires not to be where 
the forgiven sinner is ; and thither he shall never 
come." 

The austere monk has no merit that justice can 
recognise; and the pleading penitent has no sin 
for which grace has not a pardon. 

In the frequent interviews I have had with 
young friends who were inclined to think upon 
their ways, I have met with not a few who were 
unwilling to allow T that their remaining in a state 
of alienation from God was any fault of theirs, 
but never with one who would not allow that 
something had been left undone that might have 
been done to secure a reconciliation. 

Now, a clear apprehension of the mission and 
offices of Christ; a simple, childlike confidence 
in his pow T er and willingness to save me — indi- 
vidually — personally — -and a cheerful, complete 
surrender of soul and body to his service forever, 
make me one with him, and beget in me a hope, 
more or less distinct and buoyant according to 
the strength of my faith, that " because he lives I 



252 A CHRISTIAN HOPE. 

shall live also." If I can trace, in my prevailing 
emotions and habitual conduct, a predominant 
reference to his will and an influential desire to 
do those things which I believe to be well 
pleasing in his sight, I may hope that " he is 
mine, and that I am his;" and if upon such 
evidence, confirmed by the witness of the Spirit, 
I am warranted to regard myself as a child of 
God, then I am an heir, — " an heir of God and a 
joint heir with Christ." If I suffer with him, I 
shall be glorified with him. I shall be like him; 
for I shall see him as he is. To be like him is 
to be holy ; and to be holy is to be happy ! 

The hope of such a portion fills my soul with 
peace and joy. The light afflictions which attend 
my brief sojourn in this vale of tears become 
insignificant. Life itself seems like a vapour 
that appeareth for a little time, only to vanish 
away ; and then comes a far more exceeding and 
eternal w r eight of glory, — a tearless, sinless, end- 
less rest ! 

Such a hope lifts me above all the changes and 
chances of time. It lives on the very borders of 
heaven, and catches glimpses of the glories and faint 
echoes of the songs of the redeemed already there. 



VALUE OF A CHRISTIAN HOPE. 253 

In the midst of a busy world, and in the full 
tide of health and prosperity, the mind is slow to 
realize the value of such a hope. But to the 
child of sorrow ; to the sufferer by sad reverses ; 
to the disappointed and care-worn ; to the weary 
occupant of a sick-bed, what can irradiate the 
future with a gleam of gladness like the hope of 
perfect, blissful, eternal rest at last? Some of 
you have been long, and perhaps often, absent 
from home. Have you not noticed, when you 
returned even after a brief absence and drew near 
to the place where so many of your dearest joys 
are garnered up, how vividly imagination presents 
the beaming smile of a welcoming group and the 
warm embrace of loving parents ? The anticipa- 
tions of heavenly joy and glory which the souls 
of the righteous often experience are not less 
vivid and animating. Their most intimate com- 
munion has long been with the scenes and 
inhabitants of the spiritual world. Long has 

" The rapt soul 

Listened, as if celestial harmony 

Her powers enchain'd, — as if the paradise 

Of blessed ones unfolded to her view 

Inviting entrance." 

22 



254 VALUE OF A CHRISTIAN HOPE. 

You have heard or read (perhaps with in- 
credulity) of the ecstasy with which many of the 
disciples of Christ have entered the valley of the 
shadow of death. Whatever may be properly 
put to the account of extreme nervous sensibility 
or derangement, in some of these cases, there are 
others in which the structure of the mind and the 
complete self-possession of the sufferer forbid any 
such deduction. There was no anterior period of 
their lives in which more unequivocal evidence of 
intellectual vigour and the clear conception of 
truth was given than when their spirits were 
about to pass into the unseen world. 

It has been my chief purpose to produce in 
your mind the conviction that the Christian hope 
is no shadowy, dreamy expectation of a mere 
possible, or even probable, good, to be attained in 
some way, but where, or when, or how, is an un- 
solved mystery. It is this false view of the 
character of such a hope that leads many to 
undervalue, if not to discredit, it. 

I suppose any intelligent American who is 
about to visit the Old World for the first time has 
a general idea of the country he expects to see, 
of the language and customs of the inhabitants, 



THE CHRISTIAN HOPE REAL. 255 

and of the principal objects of interest to the 
traveller. But he is by no means so certain of 
reaching the British Islands or the European 
continent as the Christian is of reaching a bright 
and glorious world on the other side of death. 
Nor is the travellers expectation of finding 
Englishmen in London, Frenchmen in Paris, 
and Italians in Rome, any more rational and 
distinct than is the Christians expectation of. 
finding Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with all the 
friends and followers of the Saviour, in the kingdom 
of heaven. If he attempts to conceive of the 
self-existence and attributes of God, or to fathom 
the counsels of eternal love in the redemption of 
the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, or to bring 
the administration of divine Providence, extending 
to all worlds and throughout all ages, into har- 
mony with the judgment of the creatures of 
yesterday, his efforts will be alike presumptuous 
and futile. But if he will take the volume of 
Holy Scripture reverently into his hands, and 
consult its inspired pages with a prayerful, hum- 
ble, devout spirit, he will not be long in discover- 
ing the true nature, basis and value of a Christian 
hope. " The meek God guides into judgment, 



256 CLINGING TO CHRIST. 

and the meek doth he teach his way." When 
the Spirit of all truth comes to the soul with en- 
lightening and sanctifying power, its language 
becomes at once that of filial confidence and 
buoyant hope : — 

" Holy Saviour ! Friend unseen ! 
Since on thine arm thou bid'st me lean, 
Help me throughout life's varied scene, 
By faith, to cling to thee ! 

" Blest with thy fellowship divine 
Take what thou wilt, Fll ne'er repine: 
E'en as the branches to the vine, 
My soul will cling to thee ! 

" Without a murmur, I dismiss 
My former dreams of earthly bliss, 
My joy, my consolation this, 

Each hour to cling to thee ! 

" Oft, when I seem to tread alone 
Some barren waste with thorns o'ergrown, 
Thy voice of love, in tenderest tone, 
Whispers, ' Still cling to me !' 

" Blest is my lot, whate'er befall ; 
Nought can disturb me, nought appal, 
Whilst as my Rock, my strength, my all, 
Saviour, I cling to thee !" 



THE CHRISTIAN HOPE. 257 



CHAPTER IX. 

Further of the Christian hope and its influences — Not an inert 
principle — The duty of professing it before men — What such a 
profession implies — Mistaken views of its obligations — A letter 
to an inquirer on that subject. 

You could not have been more surprised than I 
was by the sudden call of our dear young friend 

M R to a brighter world. For, even 

had we no other evidence of her adoption into 
God's family than the expression of her great 
peace and firm hope during the interval of a few 
hours between her consciousness of danger and 
the occurrence of her death, it would hardly be 
presumptuous to speak of her removal in these 
terms. , But for more than two years she had been 
"fighting the good fight of faith." With an 
unusual tenderness of conscience, a quick discern- 
ment of the path of duty and steadfast endeavours 
to walk in it, she had evinced her attachment to 
Christ and his cause; and hence the quiet sub- 
mission of her soul to his will when the summons 
r 22* 



258 THE CHRISTIAN HOPE. 

reached her. Few survive her who have more 
to make life desirable. Few of her age have 
stronger ties for death to dissolve. But some of 
you know with what cheerfulness she turned 
away from all which this inconstant world of ours 
could give or promise, and sought her chief joy in 
communion with an ever-present Saviour, whom 
having not seen she loved, and in whom, though 
then she saw him not, yet believing she rejoiced 
with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Her tri- 
umphant song was, — - 

" If Christ is mine, let friends forsake 
And earthly comforts flee ; 
He — the dispenser of all good — 
Is more than all to me. 

"If Christ is mine, unharm'd I pass 
Through death's dark, dreary vale ; 
He'll be my comfort and my stay 
When flesh and heart shall fail. 

11 Let Christ assure me he is mine, 
I nothing want beside ; 
My soul shall at the fountain live 
When all the streams are dried." 

There is a vagueness in the ideas which are 
often entertained of the Christian hope, which I 
should be sorry to suppose prevails among you; 
and yet, in a matter of so much consequence to 



THE CHRISTIAN HOPE. 259 

our comfort and safety, it may not be amiss to 
analyze it a little more carefully. 

It is spoken of in Holy Scripture as a " lively" 
or living hope, " to which we are begotten by the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ;" and it 
is, in its very nature, active and influential. The 
hope of saving a human life exposed to danger by 
fire or water inspires an extraordinary courage 
and energy. The hope of regaining health braces 
up the sick man to the endurance of the most 
repulsive remedies. The hope of realizing large 
gains prompts the adventurer to incur all the 
hazards of unhealthy climates and of journeying 
through unexplored territories and among savage 
tribes. It is represented as holding the soul 
"sure and steadfast" in calm self-possession in 
the midst of life's severest calamities, as the 
gallant ship rides securely at anchor against fierce 
winds and mountain waves. We may reasonably 
expect, therefore, that its presence will be in- 
dicated by very decided tokens. Among these, 
alacrity and earnestness in the discharge of all the 
duties to which such a hope is fitted to stimulate 
us, would not be the least conspicuous. 

The Christian hope has its origin, life and end 



^60 THE CHRISTIAN HOPE. 

in Christ. To resemble and serve him here is the 
predominant desire and effort of his true disciples, 
while their joy and glory will be to behold and 
dwell with him forever hereafter. Of course, 
obedience to his commands will be the first and 
plainest duty; and of these commands none is 
more clear and peremptory than that of confessing 
him before men. 

In what form such a confession is to be made, 
is not so clear. There have been periods in the 
history of Christianity, as you well know, in 
which any recognition of Christ's claims to the love 
and confidence of men exposed the party to cruel 
mockings and scourgings, to torture and to death. 
All testimony to him as the Son of God was then 
sealed with blood. At other times the like pro- 
fession has been a passport to credit and influence, 
and has often been made from motives which 
could not but be offensive to the " Searcher of 
hearts." 

In almost all Christian communities, the act or 
ceremony by which those who embrace the faith 
of Christ become distinguished, outwardly, from 
others is their union with some organized body 
of believers, with whom they commemorate the 



THE CHRISTIAN HOPE. 261 

death of Christ in what is called the ordinance of 
the Lord's Supper. With the various forms, 
terms and conditions under which this introduc- 
tion to the visible fold of Christ is accomplished, 
it is not my purpose to perplex you; nor would 
it be worth while (were I able to do it) to explain 
to you the various constructions or interpretations 
which have been put upon the words and acts of 
our Saviour and his apostles to support these several 
theories. Suffice it to say that the duty of some 
avowal of our allegiance and attachment to him 
is clearly implied in the declaration from our 
Saviour's lips that " whosoever confesseth him 
before men, him will he confess before his Father 
which is in heaven." 

The first and most important question to settle 
in your own mind and in the sight of God is this : — 

DO I REALLY WANT TO BE A FOLLOWER OF CHRIST ? 

To one who appreciates in any degree the love 
which brought the Son of God to our earth to 
make himself an offering for our sins, it would 
seem superfluous, and almost impertinent, to put 
a confession of our obligation on the footing of a 
mere duty. It would seem as if natural instinct 
would prompt the object of such matchless love 



262 THE CHRISTIAN HOPE. 

to a fervent and ceaseless tribute of gratitude and 
praise. The modes and forms of doing it would 
be overleaped in the irrepressible gush of grateful 
emotions. 

If our dear M L had made no public 

profession of her faith in her Saviour,— -though she 
gave all other evidence of being his disciple and 
follower, — I think we should have felt that some- 
thing was wanting to complete the outline of 
Christian character. We might not have felt 
more confidence in the genuineness of her piety ; 
but it would seem so natural to crave an associa- 
tion with the professed people of God that the 
omission to seek it would need some apology or 
explanation. 

You must allow me, in this connection, to refer 
to what was said the other evening about one of 
our young friends, who expressed her "regret 
that she had made a profession of religion, because 
it rendered the inconsistencies of her life so much 
more glaring." It is perhaps needless to 4 say 
that she entirely mistakes the true cause of 
regret. The obligations to a religious life are 
altogether above and anterior to any external 
profession. Every intelligent creature upon earth 



THE CHRISTIAN HOPE. 263 

is bound to love God with all the heart and mind 
and soul and strength, and his neighbour as him- 
self. Those who live nearest to God can do no 
more ; and those who are farthest from him have 
no valid excuse for doing less. Nothing can be 
more inconsistent than for a creature of God to 
forget or disobey his Creator. The duty of a child 
to love and reverence his parents is not made 
more clear or imperative by the child's profession 
of love and reverence. A citizen's obligation to 
support the laws and institutions of the country is 
not enhanced by an avowal of his allegiance. The 
mothers and sisters who stayed at home and cul- 
tivated the fields and gardens evinced quite as 
much devotion to the establishment of our national 
independence as their husbands and brothers who 
"jeoparded their lives in the high places of the 
field." The acknowledgment of a debt may 
revive evidence which has. been rendered doubtful 
by lapse of time ; but it adds no force to the claim 
of the creditor or the obligation of the debtor. 
In like manner, whatever duties we owe to God or 
to our fellow-men are not made more imperative 
by our public recognition of them. The disciples 
of our Saviour were all under as much obligation 



264 THE CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. 

to follow him through evil report and through 
good report as was Peter. They were all equally 
reprehensible for deserting him in his extremity ; 
but Peter's pusillanimity was specially marked by 
its contrast with his professions of fidelity and 
devotion. If he had joined himself to the disciples, 
as Judas Iscariot may have done, with the intent 
to betray him, the crime would be greatly aggra- 
vated. And so, if one connects himself with the 
visible Church of Christ by a conscious false pro- 
fession, he adds the detestable sin of hypocrisy to 
that of disobedience, which is in itself an offence 
against God, independently of all church-relations. 

Have I disabused your minds of the impression 
that by not making a profession of religion you 
avoid the obligations to love and serve God which 
lie upon church-members ? In other words, do you 
not see that, whatever love or service to Christ is 
required of his followers, it is ho more than every 
one is bound to render who hears the gospel ? 

The exhortations to Christians, as such, which 
are so frequent in the Bible, are not addressed to 
them rather than to others because their obliga- 
tions are of any higher or different character, but 
because their deficiencies or inconsistencies are and 



THE CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. 265 

must be more conspicuous, — just as the offence of 
desertion from the army, in the case above stated, 
would be more flagrant in the eye of the world 
than the neglect of the mothers or sisters to do 
the home-work; but the hollo wness of their 
patriotism and the baseness of their treachery 
to the cause of freedom would be the same in 
both instances. The case is simply this. We are 
all under obligation to be the servants of the most 
high God. The large majority of the world 
around us virtually deny all allegiance to him. 
" They regard not the works of the Lord, nor the 
operations of his hands." The line of separation 
between the followers of Baal and the children of 
Israel, when at the prophet's summons they as- 
sembled in the shadow of Mount Carmel to test 
the respective claims of their objects of worship 
to be God, was not more distinct than is the line 
which actually separates the servants of God from 
the rest of mankind. 

To be classed with the former requires a 
positive stepping out from the ranks of the latter, 
and a conscious, visible coalescence of affections, 
sympathies and purposes with the former. A 
profession of religion, by whatever form or cere- 

23 



266 THE CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. 

mony it is made, is the taking of this step. It is 
an avowed renunciation of the world as the por- 
tion of the soul, and an unreserved, voluntary self- 
dedication to his service. It is no more than all 
are bound to do who acknowledge the right of 
their Maker and Redeemer to their love and con- 
fidence ; and not to do it, is in effect to remain 
with those who practically say to God, " Depart 
from us ; for we desire not the knowledge of thy 
ways." I am quite sure that any position of your 
relations to God could not be less desirable in 
your eyes than this ; and hence my conviction 
that you will not feel disposed further to urge an 
objection to a public profession of religion on the 
ground of its subjecting you to restraints which 
are not equally imposed upon all men every- 
where and under all circumstances. 

Questions often arise as to particular points of 
duty in connection with this subject. In conversa- 
tion with young friends who were favourably dis- 
posed towards a profession of their faith, they 
have sometimes spoken of their unfitness to sit 
down at what the apostle calls the " Lord's table." 
" It would be a great privilege," they say, " to do 
so; but they feel so little love to Christ and are 



THE CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. 267 

so often betrayed into follies and sins that they 
cannot persuade themselves that such a step in 
their case would be warranted." And perhaps it 
would not be. Yet is there not a still more 
important question lying behind that ? Admitting 
their apologies for neglecting a profession of re- 
ligion, that they are not fit to sit down at the 
table spread in the wilderness for the refreshment 
of weary pilgrims on their way to the land of 
Canaan, may we not ask if they are any more fit 
to sit down with the redeemed at the marriage 
supper of the Lamb, when their pilgrimage is 
accomplished? Whether they partake of the 
elements of the body and blood of Christ on 
earth is a matter of very little moment compared 
with their true and hearty acceptance of Him, by 
faith, as their only and all-sufficient Saviour, and 
their preparation for his perfect and eternal 
service in heaven. 

I have sometimes inquired of such apologists 
what they supposed they Avould do if the Saviour 
should re-appear on the earth in our nature, and 
walk our streets as he did the streets of Jerusalem 
and Capernaum. He is pointed out to you as 
Jesus of Nazareth. — the Saviour of sinners. You 



268 THE CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. 

see a crowd around him, but are at no loss to 
distinguish his figure and features. You are with 
a friend on the opposite side of the street who 
does not recognize his authority as a teacher 
sent from God, nor his claims to be regarded as 
the promised Messiah, — the Saviour of the world. 
A few follow him wherever he goes, listen eagerly 
to his words, witness with wonder his miracles of 
mercy and avow their determination to share his 
reproach and maintain his cause. These are his 
disciples. You say to your friend, — 

"I would like well to make one of the little 
group that surround that despised Nazarene ; but 
I do not feel as if I were good enough to be in 
such a company." 

"Why," your friend replies, "I thought his 
pretended mission was to call, not the righteous, 
but sinners, to repentance. I have heard that 
one of his sayings is, i They that are whole need 
not a physician ; but they that are sick.' Indeed, 
they call him, by way of reproach, 'the friend 
of sinners.' If that is really his office, the worse 
you think of yourself the more you must be 
drawn towards him. If I thought of myself as 



THE CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. 269 

you do of yourself, I should make haste to join 
him." 

Unmoved by this pungent exposure of your 
inconsistency, you turn the next corner and soon 
are out of sight of the multitude and out of hear- 
ing of their hosannas and curses. Could you flatter 
yourself that it was really a sense of unfitness to 
be his disciple that deterred you from following 
him ? Is it credible to yourself that what true love 
would prompt you to do under such circumstances, 
humility would restrain you from doing. " The 
woman that was a sinner" had quite as lowly an 
opinion of herself as you can have; but she ven- 
tured where few like her would have dared to go. 
She expressed her love and faith by acts which 
betokened the depth and fervour of both; and 
she received extraordinary assurance of forgive- 
ness and peace from Him " who spake as never 
man spake." 

I do not know that I can offer any suggestions 
to you on the subject of a public profession of 
religion in a better form than by transcribing 
(even at the risk of some repetition) a letter 
which I addressed a few days ago to a young 
friend, not yet out of school, who was perplexed 



270 THE CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. 

about her duty in this respect. Many circum- 
stances in her domestic and social relations in- 
creased the embarrassments which youth and 
inexperience would of themselves occasion; and 
though my reply to her inquiries may not cover 
all the points of doubt and difficulty which beset 
that crisis in religious thought and emotions, it 
may supply some general principles by which 
they may be solved, at least in part. 

Friday evening, March 30, . 

I need not say, my dear , that your note 

interested me very much; but I feel no little 
perplexity in respect to a reply. I should be 
unwilling to say a word to you which I would 
not say in presence of your parents, to whom 
(next to your Creator) your first duties are to be 
paid. They have the first right (of all earthly 
relations) to your obedience and affection. But 
I am confident they would never interfere with 
what they believed to be your conscientious con- 
victions of duty on the subject of religion. 
They are bound, you know, to instruct you in 
matters of truth and duty, and to counsel you in 
respect to the course you should pursue in the 



PERSONAL OBLIGATION. 271 

discharge of your religious obligations. But in 
the matter of personal salvation the responsibility- 
is an individual one. If you should follow advice 
that misleads you, while your own convictions are 
stifled, it would avail but little to say that you 
supposed your adviser knew. You have your own 
conscience, which, if neither corrupted, blinded 
nor seared, will give true answers to all important 
questions of right and wrong. God has given 
you a mind capable of weighing evidence and 
affections, which can be moved towards him as 
well as towards an earthly benefactor. He has 
put into your hands a revelation of his will which 
is simple and plain ; and by faith in it the soul is 
made wise unto salvation. In condescension to 
our weakness and natural aversion to what is 
holy, just and good, he has promised to add to all 
other gifts the influence of his Holy Spirit, to 
enlighten and sanctify us. This gift is the pur- 
chase of the sufferings and death of Christ, who, 
by making himself an offering for sin, has opened 
the way by which the chief of sinners may return 
to God and find pardon, peace and eternal life. 

Religion is something immeasurably above Pres- 
byterianism, Episcopacy or Methodism. When 



272 PERSONAL OBLIGATION. 

people are spoken of intelligently as " religious" 
persons, we think of them as acknowledging their 
obligations to serve and obey God and as striving 
constantly to fulfil them. To be truly religious, 
is to be a child of God, a disciple of Christ, a 
subject of regenerating and saving grace. And 
if these qualities and relations exist, it is a matter 
of very subordinate consequence to what particular 
class or communion of the Christian body we join 
ourselves, except as the requirements and usages 
of one may be better fitted to advance us in the 
divine fife than those of another. Of this we 
must judge on our own responsibility, — though not 
without due deference to the opinion of those 
whom we are bound to love and respect. 

To be religious ', is the duty of every human 
being; and every human being who desires to 
be so, has the means and opportunities, though 
not the same means nor the same opportunities. 
Not to be religious, is to fail of the great end of 
existence ! 

For wise reasons, the founder of the Christian 
faith has required that those who embrace it 
shall make an open declaration of their choice or 
allegiance. The world is alienated from him ; and 



NO NEUTRALITY. 273 

so radical and complete is this alienation that he 
has said, " Whosoever will be a friend of the 
world is the enemy of God." From the beginning 
of the gospel dispensation, the confession of 
Christ before men has been prescribed as the 
condition on which he will confess or recognise 
his professed followers in the day of final re- 
tribution. No one supposes that a profession of 
discipleship, of itself, makes one a disciple. Nor 
does a man's joining the army on the eve of 
battle prove his good soldiership or his loyalty 
to his country. But, if such a one would be 
counted other than an enemy or a spy by both 
sides, he will not fail to avow his sympathy with 
one or the other. It cannot be doubted, I think, 
that where there are two parties, occupying 
antagonistic positions, one of which we believe to 
be altogether right and the other altogether 
wrong, the influence of a neutral spectator is 
really given to the wrong. 

The Bible represents the whole world to be 
" lying in wickedness ;" and our natural sympa- 
thies are with it. Of course those who do not 
separate themselves from it by an open, unequi- 
vocal espousal of the service of God, virtually side 



274 THE UNSPEAKABLE GIFT. 

with the world. The duty of making such an 
avowal should be clearly apprehended ; and care 
should be taken that the motives prompting to it 
are neither impure nor transient ; and then may 
come the question of time. 

My own conviction is that the step should not 
be long delayed after the mind is deliberately and 
intelligently made up to take it. If the Bible is 
to be received as a revelation from God, there is 
no obligation resting upon us to be compared in 
importance and solemnity to that of acknowledging 
our indebtedness exclusively to Christ for our hope 
of salvation. " Greater love hath no man than 
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends; 
but God hath commended his love to us, in that 
while we were yet sinners [and of course enemies] 
Christ died for us." Holy Scripture exhorts us 
to give " thanks to God for his unspeakable gift." 
Hundreds of thousands of Protestant Christians 
in every part of the world unite in weekly, if not 
daily, thanksgivings to God "above all things, 
for his inestimable love in the redemption of the 
world by our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Had you never known your parents, but yet 
had received from them daily and hourly tokens of 



GRATITUDE. 275 

their love ever since you were born, and should you 
unexpectedly find yourself in the same room with 
them and be told that to them you owed all the 
comforts and blessings of your life, would you ask 
time to consider when and how you should express 
your gratitude ? Or w 7 ould you hasten to make 
your heartfelt acknowledgment, and repel the 
thought of waiting as unnatural and base ? And 
have we a single comfort or blessing, privilege or 
hope, which has not been purchased for us by the 
sacrifice of Christ? Have not his mysterious 
incarnation, obedience and death prepared the 
way for our return to our Father's house in the 
sure and certain hope of forgiveness and accept- 
ance ? Could we anticipate admission to the 
marriage supper of the Lamb if a wedding 
garment had not been purchased for us at such 
an inconceivable price ? 

Ah! my dear , we have very inadequate 

ideas of the holiness of the divine law which 
condemns us, of the penalty which we have 
incurred by the transgression of it, and of the 
helpless and hopeless condition of our race ; and 
that is the reason why the infinite grace of God, 
displayed in the person and offices of his Son, 



276 A MISTAKE. 

our Saviour, does not fill us with wonder, love 
and praise. Why we should delay to acknowledge 
our indebtedness to him in accordance with his 
commands, after we have been led by his gracious 
Spirit to feel our need of him and are assured of 
his power and willingness to save us, I cannot 
conceive. 

There is in many minds a reluctance to assume 
the position of a disciple of Christ, through fear 
of dishonouring him. But surely we are doing 
nothing to honour him or his cause by neglecting 
to avow a faith we feel or an obligation we 
acknowledge. If he were now present, and you 
were persuaded of his claims to your confidence, 
would you forbear to join his followers from 
a fear that you might afterwards desert him? 
Would you not rather go to him the sooner, 
saying, " My gracious Saviour ! I am a poor, 
sinful creature, with a treacherous heart and way- 
ward affections ; but I desire to follow thee 
through good report and evil report ; and, while I 
do my best to cleave to thee, I must rely solely 
on thy grace and strength to keep me from 
betraying or deserting thee." 

You know our Saviour called Peter to be one 



A PROFESSION. 277 

of his disciples with full knowledge that he would 
prove false ; but if he had not gone when he was 
called, he w r ould not have proved false, it is true, 
but neither would he have been the pioneer 
apostle of the Christian faith. 

It is a very dangerous thing to defer the dis- 
charge of any known duty. I am aware that 
persons have been over-persuaded to make a pro- 
fession of religion, and have deplored their error ; 
but thousands and tens of thousands have more 
bitterly lamented their neglect to do it. 

You will not understand me to regard a profes- 
sion of religion as a means of becoming religious, 
not as essential to salvation. If it is not the 
expression of unfeigned sorrow for sin, true faith 
in and love to Christ, and a determination, with 
divine aid, to serve and glorify God, it is worse 
than a form. It is not only empty, but impious. 
And for myself, I can truly say that I have never 
urged any one to make such a profession until the 
duty and desire were so deeply and intelligently 
felt that not to do it would be to violate both. 

And, now, I will only say a w r ord about the 
place. The diversity of views and usages which 
separate different communions of Christians from 

24 



278 A PROFESSION. 

each other, to which you refer, is, indeed, very 
perplexing. But "we have a sure word of pro- 
phecy," to which we are admonished "to take 
heed as unto a light shining in a dark place." In 
all those various groups that hold to the cardinal 
truths contained in what is known as " The 
Apostles' Creed," there are men and women 
whom Christ owns as his disciples. In determin- 
ing which of them we will join, we are authorized 
to inquire in which we shall be most likely to 
grow in grace and in knowledge and in likeness 
to our divine Redeemer. We should be careful 
that no private, selfish or worldly motives are 
allowed to influence our choice ; and, as far as may 
be consistent with the clear convictions of con- 
science and the development of God's will, we 
should avoid acting contrary to* the wishes of 
those to whose opinions we are bound to show 
deference. In questions involving duty to God 
and testimonies against the world and its pomps 
and vanities, there can be no compromise. When 
the converted Saul was restored to consciousness, 
his first inquiry was, " Lord, what wilt thou have 
me to do ?" He conferred not with flesh and 



A PROFESSION. 279 

blood; nor must we, when the path of duty is 
plainly revealed. 

I have mingled much with evangelical Chris- 
tians of various denominations, and have found 
equally earnest, devoted and godly people in 
them all. I think the considerations which 
usually sway persons in their choice of the church 
which they shall join are not very definite or 
well settled. Education, habit, taste, casual asso- 
ciation, or a preference for this or that preacher, 
doubtless influence multitudes. If a child of 
mine should choose to join a different church 
from that to which I belong, I should not object 
to it, provided I was convinced that the choice 
was intelligently made, and that the truth, as 
revealed in Christ's gospel, would be faithfully 
preached and his ordinances duly administered in 
it. Of course I should wish to be satisfied that 
the associations would be favourable to the health- 
ful and harmonious development of Christian 
character. 

Had you asked me whether you should make a 
profession of religion, I might have replied, " Yes, 
if you are religious." Had you asked when, I 
might have replied, " Whenever a suitable oppor- 



280 A PROFESSION. 

tunity offers ;" and had you asked where, I might 
have said, " Wherever you will be most edified." 
But such replies would not relieve your perplexity. 
I am aware of the delicacy of your position. Some 
of your dearest friends — and among them those to 
Avhom you owe much — are not favourable to your 
making any religious profession ; and it must be 
very painful to you to take so important a step 
without their full sympathy. But they will be 
the last to hinder you from doing what, before God, 
you feel it to be your duty to do. And they will 
fully accord in the sentiment that kindred and 
friends, and life itself, must be surrendered freely 
and cheerfully if they cannot be retained without 
a violation of conscience or neglect of duty to God. 
Your best counsellor is always with you, and 
his love is stronger than a mother's. I can gladly 
commend you to Him, with the assurance he him- 
self has given, that whatsoever you shall ask of 
him, believing, you shall receive. 

Very truly and affectionately, your's, 



Take for your motto, till this question is settled, 
Psalm xxxvii. 5. 



THE CONSECRATION. 281 



CHAPTER X. 

What is expected of those who make a profession of religion — The 
hidden life — Traits of Christian character, 

I regretted very much my inability to be 

present when our dear friends ? , ? 

, and publicly consecrated them- 
selves to the service of Christ. Of an act more 
solemn in its nature or more important in its 
relations and consequences, it is difficult to con- 
ceive. For though, as I have often told you, it 
does not add any force to pre-existing obligations 
under which w T e all lie to serve and glorify God, it 
is a deliberate, express acknowledgment of them. 

Perhaps some of their acquaintance expect to 
see some strange metamorphosis of their habits 
and manners. They may look for a graver ex- 
pression of countenance and an abstinence from 
what, heretofore, they have regarded as lawful in- 
dulgences. Have you never noticed how very 
common it is to regard " belonging to the church" 
or not belonging to it as the criterion for deter- 

24* 



282 THE CHANGE. 

mining whether the individual will pursue this or 
that course of conduct ? A party of pleasure is 
proposed. In making out a list of persons to be 
invited, a name is mentioned, and it is immediately 
said, " You needn't invite him, (or her,) for he is a 
member of the church, and will not go, I am sure." 
Or some one speaks of having met A, B or C at a 
convivial party or some place of equivocal charac- 
ter, when another expresses his surprise, u Why, 
I thought he was a member of the church ?" Or 
some gross moral delinquency comes to light, and, 
after all other aggravating circumstances have 
been alleged, the climax is capped by saying, 
" And, only think ! a member of the church, 
too !" 

All these modes of expression indicate a pre- 
valent popular notion that joining the church is 
embracing Christianity, whereas, in truth, it is 
only the avowal of a faith which may have been 
in full exercise for months or years, or which may 
not exist at all even now. It is assuming a 
position which authorizes the world to hold us to 
a certain line of conduct. If our young friends 
were prepared for the step they have taken, — as 
I trust they were, — the revolution in their views 



THE CHANGE. 283 

and principles was an anterior event, the result 
of which must of necessity be a new purpose 
and tenor of life, new pursuits, affinities and 
associations, among which is this connection with 
the people of God. 

Whatever there was attractive or agreeable in 
their appearance, disposition and deportment before, 
becomes more so by virtue of this new element 
of character. You know how often the fascina- 
tions of feature and figure are eclipsed completely 
by grace of manners and rare colloquial powers ; 
and I dare say you have seen with what facility 
a meek and gentle spirit wins admiration which 
even the most captivating personal accomplish- 
ments fail to secure. 

I need not say to you that there is no virtue 
or grace in the mere act of partaking of the con- 
secrated elements used in the celebration of the 
Lord's Supper. The partaker is the same after as 
before, unless his pre-existing or concurrent faith 
has been strengthened, and his affections — already 
supremely fixed on God — have been quickened 
and elevated by this appointed means of grace. 
Outward ordinances are the steps by which we 
climb Mount Sion, — not the mountain itself, nor 



284 THE INNER LIFE. 

yet the beautiful temple which crowns its summit 
and which we are striving, by slow and toilsome 
steps, to reach. The distinction I make is one of 
great practical importance. There are few more 
fruitful sources of error than the substitution of 
the modes and forms in which religions emotions 
are expressed for religion itself. The spring of 
all such emotions is hidden from human view. 
The man, so far as "the lust of the flesh, the 
lust of the eye and the pride of life" are con- 
cerned, is dead. " His life is hid with Christ in 
God." The tokens of this inner, hidden life cor- 
respond with its nature. They are spiritual. 
Was your friend naturally truthful, affectionate 
and gentle ? Her religion, if it is genuine, will 
give new strength and lustre to these qualities. 
It may, indeed, present to her new objects of 
sympathy, and excite aspirations and hopes to 
which she was previously a stranger. But it 
cannot possibly diminish or deform any thing in 
her character that was pure, lovely and of good 
report, or divest it of any quality that could 
properly command your esteem. 

Suppose Ave inquire briefly for some of the traits 
which may be reasonably looked for in a young 



THE INNER LIFE. 285 

Christian, but which are too often very imper- 
fectly exhibited. 

1. Religion ought to maize as cheerful. Perhaps 
no impression is more general upon worldly minds 
than that religion sours the temper and gives a 
supercilious and austere character to the bearing 
of its professors. As if the green earth were not 
greener, the bright stars brighter, the glowing 
sun more genial, and all the creatures of God 
more glorious and beautiful, to one who has been 
adopted into his family, than they can be to 
strangers and aliens ! 

The child of God (a relation which every true 
Christian sustains) has implicit confidence in the 
infinite wisdom and benevolence of all his Father's 
doings. He cannot comprehend his counsels nor 
the vast arrangements by which he accomplishes 
his ends ; ■ but, like the feeble, ignorant, trustful 
child of an earthly father, he is glad to be led, 
step by step, in whatever path may be chosen for 
him, and is cheered by the confidence that none 
of his steps shall slide. No change of time, no 
shock of sorrow or adversity, no assaults of 
malignant adversaries can much confound or long 



286 THE INNER LIFE. 

disturb him that " dwelleth in the secret place of 
the Most High." 

When we see persons whom Ave suppose to be 
sincere Christians yielding to violent emotions of 
grief or mortification under some sore calamity or 
unexpected reverses, we may hastily conclude 
that they distrust the wisdom or love of their 
heavenly Father. But we forget that our religion 
does not profess, nor is it designed, to enervate or 
blunt our natural affections. The end would be 
defeated by such a result. Its divine founder 
was a a man of sorrows and acquainted with 
grief." Human nature knows no deeper emotions 
than he manifested in the days of his flesh ; and 
now that he " is exalted above all principalities 
and powers, and might and dominion, and every 
name that is named either in this world or in 
that which is to come," he sympathizes no less 
deeply in human sorrow and offers no less liberally 
his succor and support. 

When you see one whom you have supposed to 
be a disciple of Christ groaning and weeping under 
the pressure of sorrow, think of a crucible in which 
a refiner is purifying some precious metal from 
dross. The glowing heat, though almost intole- 



THE FRUITS. 287 

rable to the refiner himself is indispensable to 
complete the process ; nor (as it has been beauti- 
fully said) will it be complete till the metal is so 
pure that his own image is reflected from its 
surface. True religion is a purifying principle; 
and the afflictive dispensations of God's pro- 
vidence are designed not only to test its genuine- 
ness, but to increase its strength and activity. 

" The ground may be covered with gay flowers 
and yet be a desert ; but when it is broken up 
and harrowed I feel sure the husbandman has 
been there, and that he means to sow seed there, 
and in due time I shall look for a crop." 

Sustaining grace is bestowed by the same hand 
that holds the rod ; and hence the apparent paradox 
of "joy in tribulation." If there were no tears, 
who would know the blessedness of having them 
wiped away in the world to come ? 

" Count each affliction, whether light or grave, 
God's messenger sent down to thee. Do thou 
With courtesy receive him ; rise and bow; 
And, ere his shadow pass thy threshold, crave 
Permission first his heavenly feet to lave, 
Then lay before him all thou hast. Grief should be 
Like joy, — majestic, equable, sedate, 
Confirming, cleansing, raising, making free ; 
Strong to consume small troubles ; to commend 
Great thoughts, — grave thoughts, — thoughts lasting to the end." 



288 THE FRUITS. 

2. Religion also checks undue elevation and excite- 
ment in seasons of prosperity. The desires and 
affections are kept in that state of quiet, submis- 
sive, satisfied repose which is most conducive to 
the true enjoyment of the present world and to 
the due preparation of the soul for the next. I 
can conceive of no condition so completely adapted 
to the wants of the human soul, through its whole 
being, as that of one who has fully consecrated 
himself to the service of God ; merged his own 
will in the will of God ; accepted the pardon of 
his sins through divine mercy in Christ, with a 
grateful, penitent, trustful heart, and relies upon 
covenanted grace for strength to obtain the victory, 
and more than a victory, in every conflict, — even 
the last. I can conceive of nothing that would 
add to the safety or happiness of such an one. 
With nothing to mar his present joy, nothing to 
overcast his bright future, who should be cheerful 
if not he ? Why should a scowl of discontent 
ever cloud his brow or an anxious sigh escape his 
lips ? The voice he hears in the stormy wind 
and tempest is the same that speaks to him in the 
genial sunshine and gentle shower. The present 
life and the future arc only two conditions, in 



CAUTIONS. 289 

which the same service is to be performed for the 
same Master : here, imperfectly and with many 
clogs and drawbacks ; there, purely, perfectly and 
eternally. Let every Christian be cheerful, buoyant 
and happy, if he w T ould persuade his fellow-men 
that his religion is his chief joy. 

3. Religion, if genuine, will prompt us to do all 
the good we can, — not only embracing opportunities 
of usefulness which present themselves, but seek- 
ing them out and qualifying ourselves for the 
highest improvement of them. 

Some persons act as if a connection with the 
church absolved them from all further respon- 
sibility. They go from the world into the church 
as a traveller steps from a wharf to the deck of 
the vessel that is to convey him to a distant port. 
But, in truth, to become a church-member, is to as- 
sume the profession and garb of a labourer in the 
vineyard of the Lord ; and though the service may 
not be entirely new, it is entered upon with more 
system and under new advantages. A constant 
and punctual use of the means of grace, which such 
a connection affords, is an obvious duty. Attend- 
ance at the house of prayer, the careful observ- 
ance of appointed ordinances, and a warm sym- 

T 25 



290 CAUTIONS. 

pathy with the various plans and agencies for 
extending the blessings of the common salvation, 
may be reasonably expected ; and yet to some of 
these duties young Christians are very apt to 
grow indifferent. It is not unusual to observe 
a religious activity which has but a remote rela- 
tion to active religion. 

In the earnest, impetuous, perhaps conscien- 
tious, endeavour to be very useful, persons may 
neglect the cultivation of those graces which are 
essential to great usefulness in Christian enter- 
prises. The traveller who is in such haste to 
accomplish his journey as to neglect to feed and 
rest his horse shows more zeal than judgment. 
There is a mistake not unfrequently made by 
those who are regarded as masters in Israel. It 
is in urging young persons to the occupation of 
conspicuous and responsible positions, for which 
they are ill qualified, as a means of giving them 
confidence and courage. If such experiments 
could be tried without putting in peril other 
interests quite as important, such a mistake would 
be less mischievous. It is very common to press 
quite young professors of religion into the very 
sacred and delicate office of teaching children in 



CAUTIONS. 291 

the Sunday-school or of leading in the devotions 
of social assemblies. When the invitation is de- 
clined on the ground of conscious incompetency, 
instead of commending the modesty which prompts 
a little delay and using the interval for such 
instruction and training as shall prepare the 
party for better and more enduring service in a 
year or two, immediate entrance upon the work is 
urged, — oftentimes to the lasting disadvantage of 
all concerned. Many a man has carried deformed 
limbs to the grave in consequence of being put 
upon his legs before they were strong enough to 
bear his weight. While we should not shrink 
from any duty which the providence of God 
plainly imposes, but, as just now intimated, 
should watch for opportunities to be useful, it is 
safer and better for us to occupy well an humble 
sphere than to attempt what may prove too high 
for us. Some travellers fail to reach their 
journey's end because they set out at a pace 
which they cannot maintain; and young Chris- 
tians often become disheartened in consequence 
of abortive efforts to accomplish w 7 hat is not 
within their province or power. 

4. Naturally connected with the preceding 



292 PRIVATE DUTIES. 

cautions is some reference to the priv ate personal 
duties of your new profession. The divine life 
once commenced admits of no halting. When 
the hand has been put to the plough there must 
be no looking back. No human being is, in his 
moral condition, to-day what he was yesterday. 
He is nearer to God or further from him. 

We have often discussed the various methods 
by which the life of God is maintained in the 
soul of man. The foot of the mysterious ladder 
upon which the angels of God ascended and 
descended, rested upon earth, while its top was 
in heaven ; and it is thus an appropriate emblem 
of the way of access which has been opened for 
sinners to the throne of grace. There is such 
a thing as communion with the infinite God even 
while the soul of the believer is imprisoned in 
the earthly house of this tabernacle ; and it is 
only by such communion that it is nourished and 
strengthened and armed for conflicts with the 
world, the flesh and the devil. Every victory 
over a spiritual foe, every earnest prayer, every 
holy desire, gives the soul an upward impulse. 

The Scriptures testify of Christ; and by read- 
ing, marking, learning and inwardly digesting 



CAUTIONS. 293 

them we are encouraged to hope for higher and 
further communications of the Spirit that dictated 
them. It is a good habit to read studiously, in 
solitude, every morning, one chapter of the Old 
Testament and one in the New, and no more. 
Use a Bible with references ; and when important 
doctrines or duties are disclosed by the texts, 
carefully examine parallel passages. When doubt 
or obscurity occurs, it is sometimes of service to 
consult a commentator ; but consult him as 
you would an intelligent Christian friend who 
happened to be in the house, — not as conclusive 
authority, nor to save yourself the trouble of think- 
ing, nor for the gratification of curiosity to see 
of what ingenious interpretation it may be sus- 
ceptible, but to gain the advantage of a comparison 
of opinions. 

Read with care. Preserve, if possible, in the 
mind or on paper, some connection between the 
portions read, so far as it exists, or so far as the 
references enable you to trace one. It is well 
after reading to allow the mind to dwell for a 
little season on the particular scope of the pass- 
age, and to seek, both before and after, those 
gracious influences by which the dark under- 



294 CAUTIONS. 

standing is enlightened, and the mind enabled to 
discern, the conscience to apply and the heart to 
feel and yield to the truth. 

5. Such a preparation for the duties and tempt- 
ations of each day must be followed up by a 
watchful superintendence of the heart and tongue. 

You remember Miss said, the other evening, 

that she was quite discouraged by finding that 
the more she tried to be consistent in speech and 
conduct the more mortifying were her failures. The 
explanation of this is by no means difficult. The 
more exact the rule and rigid its application, the 
more obvious the inequalities of the surface to 
which it is applied. People who compare them- 
selves among themselves slip along very easily ; 
but he that looks into the perfect law of God, as 
into a mirror, will readily discern deformities and 
defilements which will keep him humble. His 
secret sins will be revealed in a light so strong 
and clear that he will be driven for succour and 
safety " to the Rock that is higher than himself." 

No wonder that our young friend is often 
baffled in contests with the Prince of darkness. 
She would be cast down and utterly destroyed 
were it not that her faith is in One whose 



CAUTIONS. 295 

strength is made perfect in her weakness, and 
who has promised a complete victory to those 
who are not faithless, but believing. The nearer 
she approaches to God, the more hideous and 
revolting will sin appear. What a joyful, ani- 
mating thought it is, that when admitted to his 
blissful presence we shall be beyond the reach 
not only of sin, but of temptation ! 



296 THE LEAVEN. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Religion a pervading principle — Apparel and amusements — Exer- 
cise — The Lord's day and its occupations — Sunday reading. 

There are some topics, of subordinate import- 
ance, perhaps, upon which you will allow me to 
give you a few hints. 

When the leaven is hid in the meal, its influence 
pervades the whole mass. Not a particle escapes. 
" The whole is leavened." So the Christian princi- 
ple, when fairly installed in the government of 
the thoughts and conduct, exerts its power over 
every act and purpose. 

You will agree with me, I presume, that good 
taste is as much evinced as sound judgment and 
propriety in simplicity of apparel. This may be 
observed without excluding from one's wardrobe 
a single item which would contribute to real 
grace, dignity or personal attractiveness. You 
are perhaps scarcely aware of the transparency 
(to the eyes of our sex) of the motive which 



APPAREL. 297 

prompts the superfluous adornment or ostentatious 
display of the person. There can be no doubt of 
the lawfulness and, indeed, the duty of making 
ourselves agreeable to others, not only in our 
manners and conversation, but in our personal 
carriage and appearance; and hence it is right 
to consult propriety and good taste in the 
adaptation and congruity of dress. But the 
slavish regard to prevailing fashions, the restless 
desire to be in them, and the obvious intent to 
attract notice by a display of personal orna- 
ments or the profusion or the still more indelicate 
and offensive deficiency of dress, are as repugnant 
to good sense as to religious duty and consistency. 
There is something very suggestive and humili- 
ating in the familiar couplet of the child's hymn : — 

" The art of dress did ne'er begin 
Till Eve, our mother, learn' d to sin." 

I would advocate no ultraism in either direc- 
tion, but a steadfast adherence to that simplicity 
which is equally removed from severe plainness 
and garish display, and which betokens the ab- 
sence of any desire to attract observation. 

The apostle's injunction does not forbid a proper 
regard to taste and propriety in the matter of 



298 AMUSEMENTS. 

apparel; but, in accordance with the whole tenor 
of Holy Scripture, he inculcates the "inward 
adorning" of a "meek and quiet spirit/' which 
will of itself solve any doubts respecting the 
mode of plaiting the hair, or the wearing of gold, 
or the putting on of apparel. 

To what extent you may safely adopt the 
practices or mingle in the pursuits of the fashion- 
able world, you need be at no loss to determine. 
You may be assured that no one has more un- 
feigned pleasure in witnessing the social enjoy- 
ments of young persons than I have. I w r ould 
promote them in all lawful ways. I am sure 
innocent indulgence in the pleasures which our 
heavenly Father has so bountifully provided and 
given us capacities to enjoy, contributes to health 
and to the full and harmonious developement of 
our moral and physical nature. Nevertheless, I 
could not entertain the idea for a moment that to 
secure such enjoyment it is needful to be one of 
the giddy throng of fashion, gossip and display, 
or to suffer with them the waste of vital energy, 
the encroachments on time, and the dissipation 
of all sober reflection, to say nothing of the fond- 
ness for flattery and admiration which is sure to 



AMUSEMENTS. 299 



be engendered. Of the absorbing demand thus 
made on the thoughts and purposes, the exposure 
of health, and the temptations to overstep the 
bounds of propriety and self-respect, I need not 
remind you. 

On the subject of amusements I am well aware 
there is much diversity of opinion ; and it is very 
difficult to prescribe any rule by which to fix the 
boundary between the harmless and the hurtful. 
My impression is that the law of Christian duty 
interdicts much that is in itself perfectly innocent, 
and in which you and I (but for this law) might 
safely indulge ; and hence it must be left in 
some measure to an enlightened conscience and a 
proper regard to the well-being of others to resolve 
many questions that may arise touching the law- 
fulness of this or that amusement. 

It is certainly true that our physical and intel- 
lectual nature is so constituted that amusement of 
some sort is craved with an eagerness not to be 
repressed. The moderate relaxation of mind and 
body is one of the first requisites to the health 
of either. Your sex is excluded from most athle- 
tic exercises ; but the circle of active and exciting 
amusements for you has been much enlarged 



300 AMUSEMENTS. 

within a few years. In the country, opportunities 
for out-of-door exercise are of constant occurrence. 
The comparative seclusion from observation, and 
the variety of employments within and without, 
the pure and bracing air, and the boundless 
expanse of field and forest in which to roam, 
combine to make country life a continual amuse- 
ment to temporary residents. In the city, for a 
large part of the year, out-of-door exercise by 
walking — brisk, earnest walking, — not sauntering 
along the promenade of fashion and feasting the 
eye on the " new styles" in the shop-windows — is 
more practicable than in the country. 

Sedentary amusements are well enough in their 
place, and, if not connected with the excitement 
of vicious passions nor conducive to the formation 
of vicious habits, should be encouraged. Cards 
are open to both these objections. In dancing, as 
it is practised in modern times, there is very little 
healthful exercise. The most fashionable forms 
in which it prevails are well fitted, and, doubtless, 
were originally designed, to minister to the lowest 
passions of our nature. No one pretends that 
the graceful motions of the body adjusted to the 
measure of music by two or more persons is. in 



AMUSEMENTS. 301 

itself, objectionable as an amusement; nor can 
any one look without pleasure upon a group of 
young children in a private parlour engaged in this 
way. But who is illogical enough to argue from 
this that there is no less harmlessness in the in- 
discriminate association of the sexes in a public 
room, with all the display of person and dress 
which accompanies such scenes; the encroachment 
upon hours which nature claims for repose ; the 
exposure of health by sudden transitions from 
one temperature to another, and the exhaustion 
of physical and mental powers which must neces- 
sarily succeed such irregularities ? I cannot say 
that no one could come out of such a fiery trial 
of virtue and purity unscathed, but I am sure it 
is a risk which no considerate Christian would 
voluntarily incur ; and I apprehend that fami- 
liarity with such scenes, however attractive and 
exciting at the moment, does not afford substantial 
satisfaction even to the votaries of the world. 
Riding on horseback, bowling, skating, rowing and 
swimming are among the modes of exercise open 
to females, — though we are aware that none of 
them equal in appropriateness and efficacy the 
stirring employments of women of old. No 

26 



302 AMUSEMENTS. 

modern gymnasium can supply the place of the 
great spinning-wheel, the use of which exercised 
all the muscles of the body in equal proportion, 
and at the same time excited the mind by the 
accomplishment of a useful end. Whatever 
critics may make of the passage in Old Testa- 
ment history which describes one of the func- 
tions of " ladies/' we receive it in its obvious 
meaning and heartily subscribe to the wisdom 
of their ways : — "And all the women that were 
wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and 
brought that which they had spun, both of blue, 
and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. 
And all the women whose heart stirred them up 
in wisdom spun goats' hair." 

The cultivation of a musical taste, and the 
moderate indulgence of it, is quite lawful and 
laudable. Whether the time and money which 
are bestowed on the mere accomplishment, as a 
branch of female education, are wisely expended, 
is not so clear. Few persons avail themselves of 
it in after-life as a source of amusement; and 
fewer still attain such a degree of skill as is need- 
ful to give much satisfaction to themselves or 
others. But our present business is rather with 



AMUSEMENTS. 303 

the propriety or lawfulness of some of the forms 
of catering to the musical taste of the public 
which are regarded as objectionable. 

Among these the opera holds the chief place. 
It is nothing more nor less than a dramatic com- 
position set to music and sung upon the stage, 
accompanied with musical instruments and the 
usual machinery employed for stage effect. There 
can be no doubt that the appendages to the opera, 
apart from its musical attractions, are not essen- 
tially different from those of the theatre. The 
performers are generally of no better social or moral 
character. The incidents represented are not less 
open to animadversion, and the excitement is sub- 
stantially the same in kind and degree. No one 
will pretend that attendance at such a place of 
amusement is fitted to prepare the mind for those 
daily duties which no Christian or servant of God 
would willingly neglect. Who does not encounter 
enough hinderances to a religious life, without 
going out of his way to multiply them ? 

There are those who attempt to fasten a 
charge of inconsistency upon such as oppose the 
opera and yet admire some passages of the music 
and even favour their introduction into the services 



304 AMUSEMENTS. 

of public worship. It would be quite as logical 
and just to say that because one quotes a sentence 
or two of sound truth from a very bad book he 
endorses the book itself. 

Some persons who condemn ordinary theatrical 
amusements show favour to the opera, as a means 
of cultivating a refined taste for music. Others 
regard all dramatic exhibitions as of evil tendency, 
and attendance upon them as inconsistent with 
Christian character or high moral principle. With- 
out entering into an analysis of the arguments by 
which the advocates and opposers of theatrical 
or operatic amusements maintain their respective 
views, it will answer my present purpose to 
suggest a rule by which a conscientious person 
may determine the lawfulness or expediency of 
a proposed amusement. Many things lawful in 
themselves are interdicted because of their in- 
expediency. The professed follower of Christ 
occupies a peculiar position and recognises peculiar 
laws. What may be lawful for others is unlawful 
for him. The philosopher who is absorbed in 
investigating the laws of nature is not diverted 
by a boy's top or bag of marbles ; nor is the boy 
attracted by the library or apparatus of the 



A SAFE RULE. 305 

philosopher. The former never inquires if he 
may not spin a top just once or play just one game 
of marbles, and still retain his standing among 
philosophers ; nor does the latter long for a peep 
at the books or a part in the analysis, if he could 
have it without losing caste among school-boys. 
So the craving which a worldly mind feels for 
worldly amusements, in whatever sense the term 
is used, is not felt by the soul that has taken 
Christ for its portion. Its presence would of 
itself betoken a deceived heart. A modest 
woman never asks to have the boundaries of 
propriety exactly prescribed. She instinctively 
shrinks from an equivocal act, and leaves an 
almost limitless margin for those who merely 
mean — not to transgress. 

My rule, then, would be, when your attendance 
is asked at a place or scene of public amusement, 
the propriety of which, in your own judgment or 
in that of any judicious friend, is at all doubtful, 
the safer course is to abstain. It may, in any 
event, do you harm to go. It certainly can do you 
none to stay away ; for I presume there is no amuse- 
ment so indispensable to happiness that to forego 
it would cost more than a momentary self-denial. 

U 26* 



306 PRINCIPLE APPLIED. 

The conclusion to which we are brought, on this 
point, is that to one who professes not to be her 
own, but to have voluntarily surrendered herself, 
soul and body, to the service and glory of her 
Creator, worldly amusements in themselves con- 
sidered must be altogether so distasteful as to 
make any prohibition of them superfluous. Know- 
ing that the fashion of the world passes away, she 
lives above it while she lives in it, and uses it as 
not abusing it. 

The same general principle applies to the 
positive precepts of our holy religion. The 
desire of the new-born soul is not to relax 
or escape from the restrictions and obligations 
to which its spiritual birth introduces it. The 
dutiful and affectionate child does not ask how 
little she can do to testify her love and gratitude 
to a faithful and loving father or mother. Let 
us apply this principle. 

In the whole economy of divine benevolence, 
affecting the condition of a human being in this 
world, there is scarcely a feature of more interest 
than the institution of a day of rest. We need 
not trouble ourselves with any elaborate inquiry 
into the time or manner of its inauguration, or in 



PRINCIPLE APPLIED. 307 

what way or to what extent it is connected with 
the Jewish Sabbath, nor how far the mode of 
observing it is prescribed or indicated by scrip- 
tural authority. Here we are in a Christian 
land, and here is an ordinance claiming a divine 
origin and sanctioned by the laws and usages of 
Christian society. It requires us at intervals of 
six days to separate ourselves as far as practicable 
from the ordinary cares and employments of our 
daily life, — " the things seen and temporal/' — and 
give a few hours more exclusively to the interests 
of the soul, — " the things unseen and eternal." 

A false view T of the character and design of 
the Christian day of rest is sometimes given by 
those who are most earnest and conscientious in 
urging its observance. It is inconsistent with 
any just or intelligent conceptions of the divine 
character to suppose that such an appointment 
is not eminently adapted to the well-being and 
happiness of the world. " The Sabbath was 
made fob, man," — not for Pagan or Mohammedan, 
Jew or Christian, but for man, — for man as a mortal 
and immortal creature and a subject of God's govern- 
ment. That such an appointment is coeval with 
the race, is as capable of demonstration as any 



308 PRINCIPLE APPLIED. 

other historical fact. The lofty and indestructible 
monuments of its existence and observance stand 
out in all the annals of intervening ages ; and one 
might as well deny that the sun was one thing in 
the days of Abraham, Isaiah and Christ, and 
another now, as that the day of sacred rest which 
we enjoy was not substantially the same with 
that which awakened the sweetest tones of 

" David's harp of solemn sound." 

A moment's reflection must satisfy you that, 
apart from any requirements of the divine law, 
it is a most wholesome and needful respite from 
the whirl and bustle of ordinary life which the 
observance of such a rest every seventh day 
affords. The provision required for our bodily 
health and sustenance, — the constant solicitation 
of our thoughts and sympathies by the things of 
time and sense, — the strong disinclination (perhaps 
we may say aversion) of most minds to give heed 
to the interests of the remote and obscure future, 
— are such, that, even with this periodical suspen- 
sion of earthly cares, it is not easy to stem the 
tide of woiidliness and give even a few hours to 
the contemplation of the soul's better portion. 



THE DAY OF REST. 309 

Hence, instead of arguments being required to 
enforce the obligation to observe the Lord's day, 
one would think any attempt to abridge or abolish 
it would be resisted as an assault upon liberty or 
life. 

To make such a privilege available, it is clear 
that the observance must be general. Were 
different portions of time appropriated to this 
purpose, the affairs of life would be deranged. 
You have probably seen places of business, oc- 
cupied by Jews, closed on Saturday, or the seventh 
day of the week; and if others selected the 
second, or sixth, it would virtually leave us with- 
out either a day of rest or days of business : so 
that, to give us any advantage from such a season, 
it must be generally observed by all classes. 

It is not my purpose to discuss the arguments 
for the divine authority of the Lord's day, or the 
various questions which have been debated (some- 
times with more heat than force or judgment) as 
to what is lawful or unlawful on that day. Of 
one thing you may be assured. Those who treat 
the day with neglect or contempt, or ridicule the 
religious observance of it, seldom profess or feel 
much reverence for any other institution of re- 



310 THE DAY OF REST. 

ligion. Those who have no sympathy with an 
ordinance so obviously designed to bring man into 
communion with his Maker are not likely to 
desire a knowledge of his ways through any 
other medium. 

How shall this holy time be spent in order to 
derive the greatest advantage from it? is an 
inquiry I have often heard from my young 
friends, but which it is not possible to answer 
satisfactorily in general terms. So much depends 
on the circumstances and associations of each 
individual; on age, health, temperament and oppor- 
tunity, that no uniform method can be prescribed. 

Let it never be forgotten that the Sabbath is no 
" day of wearisome forms, of gloomy bondage and 
austere observance, of lifeless, monotonous worship, 
of listless, irksome vacancy, but one instinct with 
peace, with life and with hopefulness, spent not 
in painfully seeking a half-unknown God, but 
enjoying and conversing with a Saviour , known, 
trusted in and found faithful." 

In the reverent reading of Holy Scripture ; the 
lifting up of the desires to God and heaven, the 
habitation of his holiness; in meditation upon the 
providence and grace of God; in the careful 



THE DAY OF REST. 311 

review of the way already trod, and earnest 
supplication for light and strength to pursue 
life's journey ; in devout attendance upon public 
worship; in such offices of charity and benevolence 
as can be consistently performed; and, above all, 
in holy meditation upon the glorious work of 
human redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ, of 
whose resurrection from the dead the day is 
chiefly commemorative, — you will find abundant 
and grateful employment for every hour of sacred 
time. 

I hope you will never be betrayed into the 
delusion that the religious observance of the 
Lord's day has no scriptural warrant.* But, even 
if it had not, its indispensableness to the physical 
and moral welfare of our world entitles it to all 
the reverence and regard which its warmest 
friends claim for it. In an age of great enter- 
prise and activity like our's, it is difficult to sit 
down quietly and say, imperatively, — 

* Those who deny such authority would find it difficult to 
explain the language of St. John the divine, " I was in the 
Spirit on the Lord's day," (Rev. i. 10,) without admitting that 
a day was recognised by the apostles, after the ascension of our 
Saviour, as the Lord's ; and it is for them to show when or by 
whom it has been abolished. 



312 THE DAY OF REST. 

" Be earth, with all her scenes, withdrawn ; 
Let noise and vanity begone ; 
In secret silence of the mind 
My heaven, and there my God, I find." 

Intense worldliness is a characteristic of our 
country and times. Even our modes of stimu- 
lating a religious life partake somewhat of it. In 
former times the Bible, or books of devotion and 
religious instruction, furnished the chief occupation 
for these sacred hours. But in latter days the 
religious newspaper, and not unfrequently the 
religious story or the journal of missionary ad- 
venture, have presented themselves and found 
general favour. It is believed that by far the 
larger part of the Sunday reading in the United 
States, at this day, is given to newspapers and 
magazines. Even the paper published and sold 
on Sunday has a sprinkling of religious reading 
to hallow it in the eyes of fastidious consciences; 
and few of the so-called religious newspapers 
would venture to claim public patronage without 
a considerable infusion of mere secular matter. 
" So they twist them together."* 

It is to be feared that much of the levity with 

* Micah vii. 3, Marg. reading. 



THE DAY OF REST. 313 

which the obligations of the Sabbath are regarded 
at the present time may be traced to this source. 
The farmer, whose mind for the previous six days 
has been intent on his fields and flocks, opens his 
religious paper on Sunday, and his eye is arrested 
by a description of some new implement of hus- 
bandry or new method of cultivation, — illustrated, 
perhaps, by an engraving. Is he likely to turn 
to an essay on faith or a new interpretation of a 
disputed passage of Scripture on the next page, 
because it is Sunday ? It is not prudent to tempt 
even a religious business man by putting the latest 
foreign news or price-current before his eyes in 
staring capitals on the third page, and expect him 
to postpone reading it till the next morning and 
give his present thoughts to an essay on the 
vanity of worldly things which he will find over 
the leaf, because it is Sunday. I do not allude to 
this point to condemn religious newspapers. My 
object is answered if I put you on your guard 
against any reading on that day, whether book, 
pamphlet or newspaper, which you have not good 
reason to believe will " increase in you true 
religion." 

27 



314 BOOKS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Books and reading — A case — Instinctive precautions — Agency of 
the press in subverting truth — The mode of operation — Power of 
toords as signs of ideas. 

When we were discussing the subject of proper 
reading for the Lord's day, I intended to say a 
word to you on the subject of books and reading 
in general. In no former period of the world 
have such facilities existed for the diffusion of 
knowledge by means of the press as now ; and it 
would be contrary to all the experience of man- 
kind from the beginning, if the powers of dark- 
ness were not busy to avail themselves of them for 
purposes of evil. If two streams were running 
in different channels side by side, one of which 
was turbid and poisonous and the other pure and 
wholesome, the thirsty traveller, with his eyes 
open, could readily discern* that there was a 
difference between them without tasting. But if 
they were flowing on together in the same channel, 
and the healthful and baneful currents could only 



BOOKS. 315 

be distinguished by great care and close examina- 
tion, or even chemical analysis, he might well thank 
any one that should furnish him with a test. 

Books have a prodigious power. I had a 
young friend once whose early years were passed 
under decided religious influences. He was en- 
dowed with unusual strength of mind, and at a 
very early period of his life became distinguished 
as a public man. Few memorials in the quiet 
seclusion of Mount Auburn mark the resting-place 
of one more respected for learning and integrity. 
He had been an observer of the devoted piety 
and triumphant death of Christian friends, whose 
hope of salvation had no basis but the blood and 
righteousness of Christ ; and his own views until 
he reached maturity w r ere settled (at least spe- 
culatively) upon the same foundation. But a 
printed sermon, by a distinguished preacher of 
a radically different faith, was put into his hands, 
and, with the help of peculiar personal associa- 
tions, changed at once the whole current of his 
views, and persuaded him to adopt a system of 
belief in which Christ and his cross occupy a 
very subordinate place, if recognised at all. I do 
not cite this case to encourage a blind adherence 



316 BOOKS. 

to one set of opinions, however hoary with age or 
fortified by venerable names or by the authority 
of powerful sects, but to illustrate the influence 
of a book over a strong mind and long-settled 
convictions. 

If we could trace the means which have con- 
tributed to form our present views to three prin- 
cipal external sources, viz., what we have seen, 
what we have heard and what we have read, we 
should probably find the last by no means the 
least active or fertile. A book is a silent, but 
most intimate, companion. It does not ask atten- 
tion, nor take offence at neglect. Its name and 
dress give us no certain clew to its character. 
The opinions of others as to its value may be the 
result of prejudice or ignorance. We are told 
that to know what it is we must read it ; and to 
read it is to subject ourselves to its influence for 
better or w r orse. 

Prudent travellers in public conveyances, or 
sojourners at hotels, are very careful what inter- 
course they encourage or allow strangers to have 
with them ; for a pickpocket is not always dis- 
tinguishable by dress or manners from an honest 
gentleman. But how much more vigilant should 



BOOKS. 317 

we be to preserve the mind and heart from con- 
tact with what may pollute or pervert, than to 
protect our purse or watch from light fingers ! 

When you take up a book to read, of the 
character of which you are wholly unapprized, is 
your presumption less than when you admit to 
your confidence one to whose principles and 
motives you are a stranger? It might, indeed, 
be easier to throw the book aside than to discard 
the treacherous friend ; but, on the other hand, 
the former may conceal the poisonous fang till the 
fatal wound is made, while the latter, by his tone 
and manner, will be very likely to betray his 
character in season to defeat his evil purpose. 

The art of introducing false or equivocal prin- 
ciples into the public lecture, the newspaper para- 
graph, or the book, in company with incontrovert- 
ible truths, has been brought to great perfection 
in our clay. It is not always (perhaps not gene- 
rally) an intentional fraud upon the hearer or 
reader. The author's or lecturer's mind may have 
been perverted, or truth and error may be so un- 
certainly apprehended as to be mistaken one for 
the other. But, however ample such an apology 

27* 



318 BOOKS. 

may be for writing a bad book, it does not cover 
our imprudence (not to say folly) in reading it. 

Magazines, pamphlets and newspapers are the 
sluices through which every production of the 
human brain that can be shaped in type-metal 
passes into the reading world; and there is no 
principle so corrupt, no sentiment so false, no 
ribaldry so base and no jest so profane or obscene 
as to be denied an imprint. 

And, what is particularly to be noted, the 
brightest wit and the most sparkling popular 
style are found in close alliance with some of 
the grossest forms of error. If marriage — the 
most sacred of all human relations, on which the 
chief interests of civilization and social virtue and 
progress rest, and to which your sex owes its 
elevation above the condition of abject slaves — 
if marriage is to be assailed as a factitious rite, 
to be modified or entirely dispensed with as the 
parties concerned may choose, some glib romancer 
is at hand to prepare a flashy tale or magazine 
story, in which the sacred bond which the hand 
of God hath woven is rejected as a superfluous 
obligation or an impertinent imposition on natural 
liberty; and a hundred thousand copies are afloat 



BOOKS. 319 

in a week, and largely in the hands of those who 
are least on their guard and most easily deluded 
by meretricious reasoning. 

Direct and open assaults on the Christian faith 
are rare in our day. Its principles commend 
themselves so generally to the wise and good, 
and are so obviously necessary to the w T ell-being 
of society, that it requires no little boldness to 
impugn them ; and, besides, there is a way of 
sapping their foundations which has become quite 
common, and, while it is much more effective, 
it excites no odium and very little resistance. 

Those who are not aware of the protean shapes 
assumed by these subtle supplanters of our faith 
are very likely to find themselves in the midst of 
a plausible argument against some cardinal doctrine 
of the Bible before they suspect their proximity 
to danger. 

A popular story is advertised, we will suppose, 
under the title of " The Forest of Glenburne : a 
Tale of the Reformation." It is " puffed" into pub- 
lic notice, — as any thing may be by sufficient effort, 
— and is soon making its impression on thousands 
of minds. It is written with signal ability. A vein 
of historical truth runs through it, and the incidents 



320 BOOKS. 

are selected and wrought into the story with 
consummate skill and tact, giving it all the vivid- 
ness of a present reality. The principal parties 
neither say nor do what is not perfectly proper 
and orthodox. We are enchanted by their purity, 
love of truth, intelligence, charity and social vir- 
tues. A conversation springs up between them 
respecting a notable church-dignitary named Cran- 
mer. Some of his acts and opinions are the 
theme of much public discussion and controversy; 
and it is quite natural that the subject should 
be introduced into private circles. If Archbishop 
Cranmer is an intelligent, sensible, godly man, 
competent to decide questions of faith and duty, 
— if he conscientiously abides by the truth when 
error is in the ascendant, and encounters the ter- 
rors of persecution and death with a stout heart 
and steady faith, — his example and authority will 
be of great weight. His rebuke of the mummeries 
and superstitions of a corrupt religion will be felt ; 
and neither arts, arguments nor threats will avail 
against the pow T er of truth so illustriously vindicated 
— even at the stake. 

But now suppose we put in array the attrac- 
tions which Popery presents to the corrupt hearts 



BOOKS. 321 

of men; its claims to exclusive authority and 
infallibility; the imposing ceremonies of its ritual; 
its appeals to sense rather than to faith ; and the 
coincidence of its whole genius and spirit with 
the gross conceptions of ignorance and supersti- 
tion ; and suppose, further, that one of the intel- 
ligent and interesting parties to whom we just 
now referred is disposed to think well of Popery, 
and would fain bring his fair companion to embrace 
his views. To further his object, the good old 
Archbishop Cranmer is brought forward, and, 
though treated with great deference as one of the 
lights of the church and a pillar of the Reformed 
faith, yet arguments and opinions are put into his 
lips which are too shallow for a school-boy to use. 
The effects are what might be anticipated. " If 
the defences of the new faith are so weak as all 
that," says the too willing convert, — " if that is 
all such a great and good man can make of them, 
— it will certainly be safer for me to embrace that 
which claims to be primitive and infallible ;" — and 
the crucifix and beads are eagerly grasped. 

Or, perhaps certain religious doctrines are in 
vogue which are not relished by persons of taste and 

independent opinion. Opposers make little or no 
v 



322 books. 

head against them by the ordinary methods of 
evidence and argument ; and so they betake them- 
selves to stratagem. They frame or exhume a 
system which in some of its features resembles 
that which is so obnoxious ; and, running back to 
the time when such a system had supporters here 
and there, a story is invented, and its incidents 
and characters so arranged as to bring into dis- 
cussion the offensive creed. The tale will be 
wrought up with surpassing skill. A clergyman 
will be introduced who espouses and promulgates 
the odious doctrines. A disciple of his will be 
another leading person in the drama, and perhaps a 
rare specimen of credulity and bigotry. Other 
parties will appear, of the most amiable and at- 
tractive character. They shrink from the harsh 
doctrinal views of the preacher. They take 
brighter views of religion, and are made to 
exhibit all the loveliness and gentleness and 
benevolence which are supposed to be the fruits 
of a true faith. The contrast is very effective; 
and the reader gladly turns away from the cold, 
stern severity of what passed for orthodoxy, as 
from a frightful dream. The next sern*on he 
hears will perhaps bring to view some loading 



QOQ 



BOOKS. 32J 

truth of Scripture so nearly allied in substance, 
if not in form, to what he has seen so odiously 
depicted in the romance of a past generation, that 
he is shocked, and hastens to some place where 
his new taste will not be offended. 

Or suppose, again, the purpose is to bring into 
contempt evangelical religion, and its ministers 
and disciples, in a more general way. Then the 
story is framed to present in contrast, (not so 
boldly as to awaken suspicion,) on one side a cha- 
racter genial, generous, companionable, and free 
from all offensive traits that worldly people are 
quick to detect and condemn, and on the other 
a professor, and perhaps public teacher, of re- 
ligion, thrusting himself and his favourite topics, 
out offseason quite as often as in season, into all 
places and companies, and exhibiting in his tem- 
per and manners any thing but the gentleness and 
suavity and punctilious regard to the proprieties 
of life, such as religion enjoins with much more 
consistency and authority than the customs of 
society. 

Interviews occur in which questions of duty or 
consistency are discussed, and the " parson," or 
the "deacon/' or the other "well-meaning man" is 



324 books. 

made to propound and defend the most ultra 
views in such terms, in such a tone of voice, and 
with such weak arguments as a lively imagination 
may conceive to be most provocative of contempt 
and disgust. If the tale is w^ell wrought, the 
reader is scarcely conscious of its being other 
than a veritable report of something which actually 
occurred, instead of being a gross caricature. The 
religious opinions of some of the most learned and 
godly men that appear in the annals of the Chris- 
tian church have been thus presented in some 
fictitious tale, — first misrepresented and distorted, 
and then made responsible for inferences and con- 
clusions which shock common sense and expose 
those to whom they are imputed to pity or 
contempt. 

In the graver class of books — as histories and 
biographies — similar insidious attempts to subvert 
sound principles, implanted by a careful education, 
are by no means rare. But the more common 
theatre for the display of such skill is, as we have 
said, the lighter and cheaper literature which finds 
its way into the hands of all classes and com- 
munities. Cart-loads of printed trash, decked 
out with coarse cuts and "plates of fashion/' are 



books. 325 

in constant transit over the thoroughfares of the 
country; and though you may be protected by 
your social position from direct contact with them, 
you can scarcely fail to feel their incidental in- 
fluence in the general deterioration of moral senti- 
ment and intellectual vigour which they are sure 
to produce. So rapid is the accumulation of printed 
matter, good and bad, that but a small portion of 
it can be read even by those who have no other 
occupation. Some selection is, therefore, indis- 
pensable, and in making it you should have re- 
ference to the cultivation of taste, the improve- 
ment of the mind, a proper familiarity with the 
current topics of interest, but most of all to the 
establishment or confirmation of right moral and 
religious principles. 

The authorship or imprint of a volume has 
long since ceased to be any certain guarantee of 
its character. Doctors of divinity in high repute 
among those who are regarded as evangelical 
avow and defend doctrines and principles that are 
entirely irreconcilable with the received systems of 
our Protestant faith. Works of science are deeply 
impregnated with the poison of atheism; magazines 
and newspapers, by incidental, but not less in- 

23 



326 books. 

effectual, thrusts at our holy religion, succeed in 
diverting large numbers from the contemplation 
of it, and in imbuing others with prejudices and 
false views which are perhaps never fully re- 
moved. Hence you will not wonder that your 
Christian friends should feel some anxiety to 
forewarn and forearm you on this subject. 

There will be no difficulty in finding as much 
reading as you desire, both secular and religious, 
outside of all obnoxious or equivocal productions. 
You will have neither time nor inclination to in- 
vestigate questions of speculative theology; and 
as to the teachings of Holy Scripture, few re- 
ligiously disposed people, at the present day, 
would insist on a higher, or be satisfied with a 
lower, standard of orthodoxy than is found in 
Hannah More's writings. 

If you should decline to read a book or periodi- 
cal which a friend commends to you on the ground 
that you stand in doubt of the author's views, or 
that you do not wish to read any thing which 
advocates what you regard as error, you will 
perhaps be at once rebuked for a course so narrow 
and illiberal. How will you ever know what truth 
is, it will be said, unless you examine it in con- 



books. 327 

trast with error ? A pretty judge, indeed ! To 
make up your mind upon hearing one side ! You 
set down all who differ from you as errorists. 
To be right, they must embrace your opinions; 
while you withdraw yourself into the shell of 
your infallibility and refuse to examine the 
grounds on which they rest their convictions ! 

There is something very plausible in this appeal. 
There is an appearance of bigotry or pusillanimity 
in declining a challenge to investigate the grounds of 
another's convictions. And yet it is eminently un- 
just. Two men are about to engage in business. 
One decides to embark in manufacturing cotton 
goods, and the other betakes himself to mining 
coal. They have severally considered the pro- 
babilities of success, and each has acted upon his 
own convictions. It would be no evidence of 
narrowness or illiberality of views if the manu- 
facturer should decline to go into argument with 
the miner upon the comparative eligibility of the 
two pursuits. All his thoughts and energies must 
be bent to the prosecution of his own business. 
To spend his time in reading or hearing argu- 
ments to unsettle his confidence in it, would be 
only to insure his failure. If each has used all 



328 books. 

proper and available means to obtain information, 
and has then embarked heartily and energetically 
in the chosen enterprise, their success depends upon 
turning the eye and ear away from all diverting 
sights and sounds. Blind men who think they see 
are very unsafe guides for those who are conscious 
that they are blind. Why should one who has been 
convinced, upon evidence satisfactory to himself, 
that as a descendant of apostate Adam his nature is 
unholy ; that his violations of the divine law have 
made him obnoxious to its terrible penalty ; that 
provision is made in the gospel for the pardon of 
his sin and the remission of deserved punishment; 
that by faith in Christ and repentance towards 
God he may obtain eternal life ; and that faith and 
repentance are gifts of God, freely bestowed in 
answer to prayer, — why should such a one 
willingly read a book or hear a sermon or lecture 
in which these convictions are assailed ? Why 
demolish a house built with so much care and 
on what appeared to be a rock, in order to try 
some other foundation which cannot possibly be 
so safe ? Why leave a good harbour and put out 
into a stormy sea, upon a vague suggestion that 
as safe anchorage may be found somewhere else ? 



BOOKS AND HEADING. 329 

Would a dutiful child willingly read or hear an 
argument against the obligation of the fifth com- 
mandment ? Would a trustworthy and contented 
labourer patiently listen to evidence that his 
employer is a tyrant or a fool? To show the 
drift of these questions, I may say that if I were 
asked to read a treatise advocating the doctrine 
of universal salvation, I should courteously but 
peremptorily decline, on the ground that my 
views on that subject were well settled from such 
an examination of the Sacred Scriptures as I had 
been able to give, and that I had no desire to 
know how much could be said in support of some 
other theory, so long as I was entirely satisfied of 
the truth of the one I had embraced. 

" But," says my friend, " you want me to adopt 
your views ; and to this end you ask me to read 
your books and tracts ; and yet you decline to hear 
or examine what may be said in support of my 
doctrine." By no means. If, after proper inquiry 
and investigation, you are convinced that my 
views of this subject are not in accordance with 
divine revelation, but that yours are, you should 
resist every attempt I may make to persuade you to 

28* 



330 BOOKS AND READING. 

renounce or modify them, and should cleave to 
your own convictions with invincible pertinacity. 

While on this subject, it may be proper to 
advert for a moment to a common idea, that 
evangelical truth would be more welcome to men 
if it were expressed in more courtly and agreeable 
terms. It is said that expressions which are well 
enough in themselves become offensive by their 
association with some religious sect, or school, or 
system, and that if the same sentiment were 
conveyed in other terms it would be received 
with favour, or, at least, without repugnance. 
"You need not be concerned," said a clergyman 
of some distinction, in reply to a friend's expres- 
sion of his fear that the distinctive principles of 
evangelical religion were presented with more 
vagueness than formerly. "You need not be 
concerned. The substance of truth is preached 
as boldly as ever ; but the phraseology used in 
stating it has been modified. I well remember/' 
he continued, "how broadly the doctrine of the 
Trinity used to be expressed in words needlessly 
revolting to the minds of those who rejected it. 
Now it is stated with equal distinctness, but in a 
manner which divests it of what used to give 



BOOKS AND HEADING. 331 

offence. So of the doctrines of depravity, the new 
birth, &c, — they are preached, but with more 
philosophical exactness and rhetorical propriety; 
and hence the more intelligent errorists on these 
subjects are gradually renouncing their views and 
are • (perhaps insensibly to themselves) adopting 
orthodox opinions." 

Words are signs of ideas, but very imperfect 
signs at best. So enfeebled and confused are the 
powers of the greatest human mind that its con- 
ceptions of truth are partial and obscure; and 
when these conceptions are clothed in words they 
are open to misapprehension and misinterpretation. 
To modify materially phrases which have been cur- 
rent for a long period among the various denomina- 
tions of Christians as an expression of leading doc- 
trines, is a hazardous experiment. And it is also 
quite needless ; for the language of Holy Scripture 
is 'amply sufficient to meet all our wants in this 
respect; and, as you have often heard me say, 
adherence to it in religious discussions would 
save much controversy. There is no vital doc- 
trine of Christianity which is not set forth as 
plainly in the language of the inspired writer as 
it needs to be ; and it cannot be doubted that 



332 BOOKS AND READING. 

most of the controversies which have brought 
Christianity into discredit with a certain class of 
minds have turned upon terms and phrases in- 
vented by men. You will find it a safe rule, in 
expressing your own views, to adhere as closely 
as possible to " the form of sound words" found 
on the pages of inspiration ; and when those who 
differ from you assail your opinions or urge their 
own, hold them kindly, but resolutely, to the use 
of words " which the Holy Ghost teacheth." 

It cannot be too deeply impressed upon the 
mind that clear convictions of duty are not to be 
trifled with. Many persons have been known to 
me whose early moral instruction was not neglected, 
and who had been well disposed towards a religious 
life. But upon reaching the age when the social 
circle is enlarged and the influence of companions 
and books is more decided, they have yielded to the 
temptation to break from early restraints, which is 
often very powerful ; and one of its first forms of 
approach is an appeal to independence of thought 
and a renunciation of what the tempter would per- 
suade them to regard as musty and obsolete formulas 
of faith imposed upon the credulity of childhood ! 

A lady of my acquaintance, of rare personal 



BOOKS AND READING. 333 

attractions, of superior intelligence, occupying a 
high social position and enjoying great advantages 
of religious and literary education, came to mature 
age with a well-balanced mind and eminent quali- 
fications for great usefulness. By some means she 
was persuaded to distrust the grounds of her faith, 
though its fruits had been to the praise of God's 
grace. Of the stages of her progress in error it is 
not in my power to speak positively ; but it 
terminated in a rejection of the distinctive and 
vital doctrines of revelation, and in the adoption 
of some of the most flagrant and absurd delusions 
of modern times. From her own experience, she 
knew the power of early associations ; and when 
she desired to persuade others to make like ship- 
wreck of their faith, her efforts were concentrated 
upon this stronghold. 

In writing to a friend considerably her senior, 
she says, " Don't cling to old ideas because you 
were taught to believe they were true. Don't be 
afraid when your heart begins to shed its coats. 
They fall off like the leaves of autumn, — not 
because the tree is dying, but because it is 
gathering its life-forces up in order to renew its 
foliage in spring." Not more subtle was the 



334 BOOKS AND READING. 

language of the prince of darkness to the first 
woman ; nor more sure was he of his victim, than 
any of his servants may be who can obtain a 
listening ear to counsels like these. 

If the mind has been furnished and the heart 
impressed with the great doctrines of our holy 
religion by the lips of parents or teachers, let it 
be a subject of ceaseless gratitude to our heavenly 
Father. It is a formidable barrier against the in- 
cursions of merciless foes. It may be strengthened 
and perpetuated by proper care ; but the slightest 
breach will expose the whole fabric to weakness 
and ultimate ruin. 

You will not understand these principles as im- 
posing any restriction on freedom of inquiry or 
of conscience. A child is not bound to believe as 
his parents do, nor to receive their opinions as 
the wax takes the impression of the seal. But 
if a kind Providence has given you the privilege 
of intelligent, godly parents, who have imparted 
to you the knowledge which has made them wise 
unto salvation, it would be in the highest degree 
presumptuous to break these bands asunder and 
cast these cords from you — in order to show your 
independence. 



BOOKS AND READING. 335 

The late distinguished Rufus Choate once said 
to an intimate friend that, " fortunately for him, a 
certain belief had been implanted in his mind in 
childhood. There it stood unmoved. And he 
was unwilling to listen to arguments against it, 
or to consider the question as open, ' because,' said 
he, 'I dread the laceration of mind which must 
be caused by rending away a faith once deeply 
and firmly rooted ;' and he quoted from Edmund 
Burke a passage expressing strongly the same 
sentiment." 

I have been unconsciously led to a wider range 
of discussion than may seem to be included in 
the subject of books and reading ; but the topics 
I have considered are so intimately connected, 
in my own experience, as well as in my observa- 
tion of the inclinations and habits of my young 
friends, as to make it very natural to treat of 
them together. 

There are enough books and periodicals to 
answer all the purposes to which I have re- 
ferred in this connection, whose authorship or 
character are well known to those in whose 
opinions you would be disposed to confide ; and I 
am sure your safety and happiness are alike con- 



336 THE ROCK. 

cerned in eschewing what you have not every 
reason to believe would have their approbation. 

From the most unexceptionable productions of 
the human mind you may turn with infinite ad- 
vantage to the oracles of God. In those you 
will often find shifting sands and treacherous pit- 
falls ; but here your feet are planted upon a kock 
against which the floods lift up their waves in 
vain. 



.CAUTIONS. 337 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Uses of life — Extremes — Hie Sunday-school — Public charities — 
" Orders" — One thing — Perplexing questions — Home — School- 
days — Spheres of duty — Little seeds — The work and its pros- 
pects — The Rock, 

In previous interviews I have attempted to set 
before you the authority of the Holy Scriptures, the 
reasonableness of the doctrines which they reveal, 
and some of the duties which they enjoin or 
which grow out of a genuine Christian faith. 
Supposing you to occupy the position of a dis- 
ciple of Christ looking abroad upon the world, 
impressed with the uncertainty of life and all its 
plans, and desiring to use your acquirements and 
influence for the best end, there are two or three 
considerations which I will venture to suggest as 
to your duty. 

1. It is a saying attributed to Luther, that the 
human mind is like a drunken peasant on horse- 
back, who, if you put him on one side, is sure to 
fall over on the other. There is danger in in- 

W 29 



338 USES OF LIFE. 

dolence, and there is danger also in activity. 
Piety may languish and decay in idle, dreamy 
abstraction or sentimentalism ; and, on the other 
hand, its vitality may be exhausted in an outward 
growth, while no nourishment is afforded to the 
root. For the true relation of the active and 
contemplative duties of religion is not inaptly 
illustrated by the sap, which, rising from the 
root, flows into every branch and twig of the tree, 
but returns to the soil again for replenishment. 
" Whatever may be the amount of nourishment 
absorbed by plants from the atmosphere through 
the agency of the bark and leaves, all of it is 
forced to enter the stems through absorption by 
the roots." So, however earnest and active Chris- 
tians may be in works of charity and efforts to do 
good, the vigour and spring of their life are de- 
rived only from communion with God through 
Christ by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. 
Among the most appropriate spheres, outside of 
the family, for active duty, the young Christian 
finds the Sunday-school. If an opportunity occurs 
to engage as a teacher in a well-conducted Sunday- 
school, you would do well to embrace it. A faith- 
ful discharge of the duty will involve the aeces- 



USES OF LIFE. 339 

sity of familiarizing your mind with the truths t o 
be taught; and to attempt to teach others is a 
very effectual method of teaching ourselves. The 
study of character and of the ways of influencing 
other minds is also of* great value. The circum- 
spection which the office of a religious teacher 
(especially of children) demands, and the habits 
of attention and punctuality which are indispen- 
sable to great usefulness in it, make it a desirable 
method of self-discipline. The intercourse with 
the famihes represented in a class, which becomes 
needful and natural in the periodical visits of the 
teacher to the pupil, offers an invaluable oppor- 
tunity of reaching parents, older brothers and 
sisters, and neighbours also, with salutary in- 
fluences. 

By some it is regarded as an advantage, and by 
others as an objection, that the occupation of a 
Sunday-school-teacher is favourable to social in- 
tercourse. You need not be told that uniform 
unfeigned Christian courtesy is due and should 
be cheerfully shown to all with whom you are 
associated in this or any other good work. To 
show this demands no sacrifice, even of the con- 
ventional proprieties of life; nor does the specific 



340 USES OF LIFE. 

duty of a Sunday-school-teacher require the con- 
traction of intimacies which would not otherwise 
be formed. The more single and simple the motives 
that prompt our benevolent efforts, the more likely 
are they to be successful. Should it be your duty 
to accept the post of a teacher, you will find 
manuals and treatises of various kinds to supply 
such information as you may need in the details 
of the service. 

There are other spheres of usefulness not less 
adapted, perhaps, to your temperament and circum- 
stances than Sunday-school teaching, — such as daily 
schools of charity, and asylums for neglected chil- 
dren, ministering to the necessities of widows and 
to the comfort of the sick, the bedridden and the 
dying who are within your reach. However use- 
ful associations for these various objects may be, 
the spontaneous action of individual Christian 
hearts, and the personal sympathy which refuses 
to flow through artificial channels or to accept 
the services of stipendiary almoners of public or 
private charity, are most to be desired in all efforts 
to elevate or ameliorate the condition of the suffer- 
ing poor. You will find more satisfaction in one 
personal essay to relievo a burdened heart than 



SISTKRS OF CHARITY. 341 

in the most liberal devices of benevolence by 
proxy. 

" The rich man who goes to his poor brother's 
cottage, and, without affectation of humility, natu- 
rally and with the respect which man owes to man, 
enters into his circumstances, inquires about his 
distresses and hears his homely tale, has done 
more to establish an interchange of kindly feeling 
than he could have secured by the costliest present 
by itself. Public donations have their value and 
their uses ; poor-laws keep human beings from 
starvation ; but, in point of eliciting gratitude, all 
these fail. Man has not been brought into con- 
tact close enough with man for this. They do 
not work by sympathy." 

I need not caution you against the delusion 
that these charitable offices require one to lay 
aside the ordinary duties and relations of life, and 
adopt a peculiar apparel or become associated with 
a particular order or class of persons who devote 
themselves to such a service. I would not question 
the sincerity or usefulness, nor detract in the 
slightest degree from the merit, of such persons ; 
but I maintain that whatever works of charity 
are required it is the duty of all Christian dis- 

29* 



342 SISTERS OF CHARITY. 

ciples to perform, and that they are most worthily 
and efficiently performed in connection with the 
ordinary relations of life. That is a most com- 
prehensive a'nd beautiful summary of both the 
personal and social duties of a follower of Christ 
which the Apostle James gives us : — " Pure re- 
ligion and undefiled before God and the Father 
is this : to visit the fatherless and widows in their 
affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the 
world." The latter precept may be obeyed by 
proxy as well as the former ; and neither requires 
the renunciation of the ordinary relations of life 
nor the assumption of a singular costume. 

Many persons encumber themselves ' with so 
many engagements and concern themselves with so 
many different schemes , that they actually accom- 
plish very little of practical value. My counsel to 
you is to select the sphere of usefulness to which, 
under the guidance of the Spirit of all wisdom, 
you think yourself best adapted, and give your 
time and energies to that^ declining all diverting 
or distracting avocations. 

2. These active duties will, of course, bring 
you into communion with people of various cha- 
racters and pursuits ; and you will see much to 



DIFFUSION OF RELIGION. 343 

stumble and perplex you in the conduct of those 
whom you feel bound to regard as true Christians. 
Your own humble and consistent walk will be the 
most effective reproof of the delinquencies of 
others; and he who best knows himself will be 
the last to condemn others. 

The question will often occur to you. How can I 
bring a Christian influence to bear on this, that or the 
other person, — a neighbour or his child, a servant, 
an errand-boy, the milkman or butcher, the miller 
or gardener, the wood-sawyer, the traveller, or 
even the miserable mendicant that begs from door 
to door ? Much discrimination, and a wise discern- 
ment of times and seasons, are invaluable qualifica- 
tions for the right discharge of so delicate and 
responsible a duty. That we are bound to do all 
in our power to bring others to the knowledge of 
Christ as the only Saviour of sinners, no one will 
deny who believes his gospel; and there is no 
plainer or brighter promise on the sacred page 
than that which is given to those who turn many 
to righteousness : — " They shall shine as the bright- 
ness of the firmament, and as the stars, for ever 
and ever." Many favourable opportunities for 
calling the attention of others to the subject of 



344 DIFFUSION OF RELIGION. 

personal religion are lost through timidity or a 
fear that our motives will be misapprehended, or 
a consciousness of defects and delinquencies which 
may well extort, the exhortation, " Physician, heal 
thyself!" 

There may be a morbid sensitiveness on this 
subject, which it is our duty to control; and if 
one way of approach is closed we are to seek 
another. Sometimes a letter, or a book, or a 
marked passage in a newspaper, will be kindly 
received where a personal conference would be 
'declined or evaded. We may also succeed in 
putting a friend or neighbour into a position 
more favourable to the germination or growth of 
religious principle than the one he occupies, or in 
gradually withdrawing him from influences and 
associations unfriendly to his spiritual welfare. 
In these and all other efforts to serve our most 
gracious and loving Master, we are diligently to 
seek his direction and blessing and adhere as 
closely as possible to his precepts and example. 

3. In nothing are the wisdom and benevolence 
of the Creator more manifest than in the consti- 
tution of the human family. We are made to 
depend in infancy on one with whom we are con- 



DIFFUSION OF RELIGION. 345 

nected by the strongest instincts and sympathies 
of our nature. The first conscious emotions of 
faith and love are towards the most faithful and 
loving of all a child's earthly kindred, — a mother ; 
and the first restrictions upon our self-will are 
imposed by the same gentle voice that has soothed 
our little sorrows and enforced by the same soft 
hand that has patiently ministered to our ceaseless 
wants. Submission to the law of the nursery 
gives the most hopeful promise of submission to 
the sterner law of the family and of society, and 
ultimately to the perfect law of the gospel. 

Our first duties, then, lie within the narrow 
sphere of home; and in their proper discharge we 
have the basis of whatever is most " pure, lovely 
and of good report" in future life. A dutiful child 
and a loving brother or sister is the embryo con- 
dition of a kind neighbour, a good citizen and a 
true philanthropist. 

With the opening of school-days our circle of 
influence, active and passive, is considerably en- 
larged. New relations are formed, involving cor- 
responding duties. Passions and emotions are 
awakened which may have been before asleep ; 
and their regulation or control is found to be no 



346 DIFFUSION OF RELIGION. 

easy task. It is the world in miniature; and 
every victory over one's self here is of invaluable 
service in preparing us for sharper conflicts and 
fiercer adversaries in the future. 

School-days over, we enter on the active duties 
of life, but have still a well-defined orbit, within 
which our energies of body and mind will find 
full employment. The neighbourhood in which 
our lot is cast, and the humble, unostentatious, 
and perhaps unnoticed round of personal, social, 
daily duties to which we are called there, deserve 
the first attention. It is by the little rills of 
benevolence that flow silently, and unheeded by 
the world, among the sons and daughters of want, 
sorrow and suffering in our own neighbourhood, 
that the weary are comforted and the perishing 
saved. Do not harbour the thought for a moment 
that the measure of good we do in the world is 
proportioned to the scale on which it is done. 
This has been an egregious mistake with many. 
While waiting for an opportumty to do some 
great thing, life and energy have ebbed away, 
and nothing is accomplished. 

It is not needful, however, that we should 
withhold sympathy and aid from those more ex- 



SCHEMES OF GOOD. 347 

pansive means of blessing and saving men for 
which our age is distinguished. The universal 
diffusion of the Bible, and the introduction and 
establishment of the ordinances of our holy reli- 
gion in the place of false and corrupt systems of 
idolatry and superstition, are projects of command- 
ing interest to every thoughtful mind. Unless 
your attention has been turned particularly to the 
subject, you would not be likely to realize the 
vastness and godlike aim of these schemes of 
Christian benevolence. 

Without entering at all into the vain specula- 
tions which have been often indulged as to the 
condition which awaits the heathen in the unseen 
world, it cannot be doubted that it is the will and 
purpose of the founder of Christianity that its 
benign principles shall be inculcated the world 
over, and that it is the first and chief duty of his 
disciples to see that it is done. The means and 
agencies for accomplishing it are within reach; 
and our business is to select and employ them, 
under his guidance and blessing, trusting in the 
sure word of prophecy, that " all flesh shall see 
the salvation of God." How far the humblest 
and most insignificant instruments may be made 



348 A LITTLE LEAVEN. 

available for the most stupendous results, those 
best know who have scanned most closely the 
mysteries of divine Providence. That little girl 
in your class at Sunday-school, whose father saws 
wood and whose mother takes in washing, brings 
her first earned penny to you, and it is invested 
in a little sixteen-page hymn-book, which finds 
its way into a school in the wilderness, and, 
falling into the hands of a little boy, awakens in 
his untutored mind a desire to serve and obey 
God. In process of time the seed thus silently 
and secretly sown comes to the fruit-bearing 
stage, and the little boy, now in vigorous man- 
hood, is about to embark for the flowery land of 
Sinim. He bears glad tidings to the debased 
and ignorant disciples of Confucius. Thousands 
wait upon his ministry, and, by the grace of God, 
accept the offers of salvation ; and successive 
generations, long after you and the little penny 
contributor and the missionary are buried, and 
peradventure forgotten, will the work of mercy 
so insignificant in its beginning stretch outward 
and onward beyond the limits of finite conception. 
It is this consideration which imparts so much 
sacredness and solemnity to the Christian voca- 



A PERPLEXITY. 349 

tion and clothes every moment and act of life 
with so much importance. We know not how 
closely an act, a word, or even an unexpressed 
thought may be connected with the salvation of 
some soul, the happiness of an individual, of a 
family, or of the community, or the conversion of 
the world ! 

If we propose to ourselves at the outstart the 
one definite purpose of making all our powers 
and faculties, our acquirements and opportunities, 
subservient to the welfare of those around us and 
the glory of our Father and Saviour in heaven, we 
shall find little difficulty in selecting the sphere of 
our effort or in determining the best way of filling 
it. Where such a principle predominates, pride 
and worldly ambition are kept at bay and the 
path of duty is plain. That position is most 
elevated in which most can be done to make men 
happy by making them holy. 

It will perplex you, I have no doubt, (as it has 
often perplexed others wiser than we are,) to 
account for the slow progress and comparatively 
limited triumphs of Christianity. Indeed, it is 
alleged by superficial thinkers and reasoners as 

an argument against its claims, that it does not 

so 



350 THE GREAT ANTAGONISM. 

make more rapid and extensive inroads upon the 
kingdoms of sin and darkness. Such persons 
forget that not to retreat or lose ground is some- 
times a more conclusive evidence of power than 
the most brilliant victory. A fortuitous incident . 
may decide the event of a battle ; but to retain 
a position against fearful odds requires consum- 
mate skill and heroic courage. The whole tide 
of human depravity withstands the humbling, 
self-denying, lust-crucifying spirit of the gospel 
of Christ. Ephraim, joined to his idols, is quiet 
when let alone ; but if his strongholds are assailed 
he becomes like a lion robbed of her whelps. Sin 
is the ruling spirit of an unregenerate world; 
holiness is the ruling spirit of the gospel. Their 
antagonism is as deep and broad as that of life 
and death. Sin has all the advantage of pre- 
occupation and the sympathy of the invaded pro- 
vince. Christianity must win all its friends and 
allies from the enemy's ground. 

Look at the world as it was when our holy 
religion was founded. The nation to whom had 
been committed the divine oracles, — the chosen 
people of God, — had incurred his displeasure and 
were subject to 8 heathen power. Not only were 



THE PROGRESS OF TRUTH. 351 

they " scattered and peeled/' but were given up 
to judicial blindness, so that when the promised 
and long-expected Messiah appeared, instead of 
being in their eyes as the rose of Sharon and the 
lily of the valley, he was " as a root out of dry 
ground, without form or comeliness.'' Instead of 
being the foremost to welcome him as the anti- 
type so long and so significantly represented in 
the rites and ceremonies of their church, they 
despised and rejected him. They opposed him at 
every stage of his earthly ministry, and finally 
laid their wicked hands on him and put him to 
death. 

As soon as his divine power had been re- 
vealed by his sundering the bands of death and 
triumphing over the grave, his few humble dis- 
ciples rallied, and, under his express commission, 
began to propagate his doctrines and proclaim his 
authority as head over all things to the Church. 
And what has been the result ? In the absence 
of positive and exact information, which it is 
obviously impracticable to obtain, we probably 
approximate the truth when we set the number 
of disciples in the first century at five hundred 
thousand ; in the fifth century at fifteen millions ; 



352 THE WORLD AS IT IS. 

in the tenth century at fifty millions ; and in the 
eighteenth century at two hundred millions. Esti- 
mating the total population of the globe at ten 
hundred millions, it is probable that not far from 
one-third are nominally Christian; that is, they 
recognize the existence of one God, and receive 
the Old and New Testament as a revelation of his 
will. Of these nearly two-thirds profess to belong 
to the Greek and Papal Churches : so that the Pro- 
testant faith, as it prevails in the United States 
and Great Britain, embraces less than one-tenth 
of the population of the globe. The false re- 
ligions of Asia have from three to four hundred 
millions of deluded disciples; the followers of 
Mohammed number from one hundred and twenty 
to one hundred and fifty millions ; and heathenism 
absorbs the remainder.* 

In regard to the methods by which the know- 



* The Director of the Statistical Department at Berlin, C. F. 
W. Dartirich, classifies the population of the world, according to 
creeds, as follows : — The whole population of the earth is estimated 
at one billion and two hundred millions, of whom Christians con- 
stitute 25.77 per cent. ; Jews, 0.38 per cent. ; Asiatic religions, 
46.15 per cent. ; Mohammedan, 12.31 per cent.; Pagan, 25.29 per 
cent. The three hundred and thirty-live millions of Christians 
he divides as follows: Roman Catholics, 50.7 per cent. ; Protest- 
ants, 25.6 per cent. ; Greek Catholics, 22.7 per cent 



v> 



MACHINERY. 35 

ledge of the true God and of his Son Jesus Christ 
shall be most widely and rapidly extended, there 
may be some diversity of views. Much of the 
energy and means of the Protestant church in 
our day find an outlet through various organiza- 
tions, more or less general in their character and 
objects. There are societies, as you well know, 
that appoint and support missionaries to the 
heathen and to such portions of our own country 
as are destitute of the Christian ministry and 
ordinances. There are societies to print and dis- 
tribute Bibles and religious books and tracts ; to 
organize and sustain Sunday-schools ; to provide 
instruction and industrial training for ignorant 
and neglected children ; to search out and relieve 
poverty and distress ; to reclaim the juvenile de- 
linquent ; to protect and care for the widow and 
orphan ; to look after seamen ; to aid in building 
churches ; to assist young men of professed piety 
in preparing for the work of the ministry ; and for 
numberless purposes of a less general character. 
Like every thing human, such agencies are im- 
perfect and liable to abuse ; and, while w r e have 
abundant cause to praise the Author of all good 
that so much has been accomplished by their means, 

X 30* 



354 THE CHURCH. 

we may very properly inquire whether his own ap- 
pointed methods of saving men have their proper 
place in the estimation of his servants. We can- 
not doubt that, in his infinite wisdom, instruments 
are provided fully adequate to the accomplish- 
ment of his purposes of mercy ; and, though men 
are at liberty to adapt their methods of evangeliza- 
tion to the shifting exigencies of the times in 
which they live, it cannot be doubted that there 
is a power in the great body of the followers of 
Christ, in their church organization, to accom- 
plish a far greater amount of good than all human 
devices combined. Under the ordinary circum- 
stances of life, perhaps no safer course could be 
prescribed for one who would live to good pur- 
poses for his Saviour and for his race, than to 
identify himself, as early as practicable, with some 
church which he believes to be a church of Christ, 
and where his edification is most likely to be 
promoted, and give himself earnestly to work in 
and by that divinely-appointed method of advancing 
tKe well-being, temporal and spiritual, of fallen men. 
It cannot be doubted that if the Church of 
Christ (meaning by that term the whole body of 
his true disciples) were united and earnest in 



THE CHURCH. 355 

obeying the simple requisitions of his gospel, and 
should illustrate its principles no more conspicu- 
ously than the primitive disciples did, there 
would be no form of human suffering, sorrow or 
guilt for which provision could not be made far 
more effectively and economically than it is done 
at present. If the Church of Christ did its obvious 
duty, the blessings of education, of personal and 
national freedom, of domestic and social enjoy- 
ment, of peace, purity and prosperity, would be 
diffused as widely as the habitations of men. 
The hoary systems of superstition and idolatry 
would pass away as prowling beasts retire to 
their coverts when the dayspring arises. The 
humblest man w T ho walks with God wields a 
power by which fleets and armies, and the nations 
who put their trust in them, are saved or de- 
stroyed. What could the king of Israel and all 
his hosts do to avert the three years' drought 
which the prayer of one man, with passions like 
our's, brought upon the land ? 

The Church in our time is weakened and dis- 
tracted by strifes of words and the struggles of 
various communions to propagate their peculiar 
doctrines or usages. Of the three hundred mil- 



356 THE WORLD. 

lions of nominal Christians, as we have said, at 
least two-thirds are enslaved to the grossest forms 
of superstition. They put darkness for light; 
and wherever they gain a foothold there a new 
barrier is erected to the progress of the truth, 
instead of a new centre from which to diffuse its 
blessings. This is not said with any harsh or 
unkind feeling. However it may be with the 
leaders and propagandists of their faith, we must 
suppose the great body of the Papal Church verily 
think they are serving God according to his will ; 
or, in the absence of any positive intelligent con- 
viction, are not conscious of acting contrary to it. 
Still, we must regard these two hundred millions 
of the human family— though professing to know 
the true God and to receive the same revelation 
of his will that we have — as slaves to a corrupt 
and superstitious faith. The remnant of Israel — 
perhaps amounting to five millions in all — are 
scrupulous believers in the Old Testament Scrip- 
tures, but peremptorily and universally reject the 
New. 

And now we turn our eyes away from every 
glimmer of light that Protestant, Papal or Jewish 
religions supply, and look out upon some six or 



THE WORLD. 357 

seven hundred millions of our fellow-creatures 
groping in the darkness of paganism and de- 
graded by all the vile passions and brutal vices 
which are inseparable from that condition. Here 
and there we descry a Protestant mission-station, 
established and sustained by a few devoted- men 
and women, often at the imminent hazard of health 
and life, and with rare accessions to their number 
from the native population. Undaunted by danger 
and undiscouraged by opposition and abuse, they 
hold on their way. Rarely is a station abandoned 
which is once fairly taken ; and so great has been 
the success which has attended some of these 
invasions of the kingdom of darkness as to war- 
rant the f&llest confidence in the practicability of 
the work upon any scale which the faith and 
liberality of Christ's followers may propose. 

It may interest and encourage you to reflect 
for a moment upon the number and effectiveness 
of the instruments by which so stupendous a 
revolution as the conversion of the world is to be 
brought about, compared with those which were 
at the control of the Church only fifty years ago. 
Then the Holy Scriptures were read in only 
thirty-six languages, and were available to only 



358 THE WORLD. 

two hundred millions. Now they are printed in 
two hundred and sixty languages, and are avail- 
able to six or eight hundred millions : so that 
in almost all the nations of the globe may be 
read by every man, in his own tongue, wherein 
he was born, the doctrines and requirements of the 
Christian faith. The press has advanced in power 
within that period more rapidly than in all pre- 
ceding generations since the art of printing was 
discovered. The facilities of intercourse between 
the various nations of the globe have been mul- 
tiplied almost indefinitely, and the incitements to 
peaceful and beneficent enterprises have kept pace 
with them. So that at this moment it may be 
assumed that access may be had to at least four- 
fifths of the people of the earth, for civilizing and 
evangelizing purposes. 

Africa has not for ages presented so many 
tokens that the time of deliverance is at hand 
for her degraded tribes. The report of every new 
exploring expedition reveals encouraging prospects 
for the introduction of agriculture, commerce and 
the mechanic arts ; and in some districts the 
blessings of civilization are enjoyed in a higher 
degree than in many parts of Europe. 



THE WORLD. 359 

. Iii Asia we find more than half the human 
race, — six hundred millions being probably within 
the true estimate, of whom more than half in- 
habit the Chinese empire. The rest are divided 
among the Buddhist, the Brahmin and the Mo- 
hammedan faiths. The very recent change in the 
outward relations of the Chinese and Japanese 
governments will unquestionably effect a rapid 
modification of their civil and moral condition. 
But it must be a work of time. The institutions 
which give a nation a high position and influence 
are the growth of centuries. No finite mind can 
conceive of the number which represents the popu- 
lation of the Chinese empire. Imagine that you 
stood in some favourable position for the purpose 
for the space of ten hours every day, and that in 
each hour one thousand of them passed before you. 
This would be ten thousand every day. How 
long do you suppose you would stand there 
before all the people of that vast empire would 
go by ? Not less than eighty years ! 

What mighty agencies must be employed to 
effect a moral revolution in such a mass of de- 
praved, degraded humanity ! If they were di- 
vided into congregations of two thousand souls 



360 THE WORLD. 

each, one hundred and fifty thousand ministers 
would be required for their supply. Yet it is not 
an extravagant idea that China may be an en- 
lightened Protestant nation before some who 
may read these pages have ended their pil- 
grimage. With all their absurd superstitions and 
gross vices, there is a striking fondness for know- 
ledge among them. The religion of the people is 
not connected with the State, and they are rather 
atheistic than idolatrous. The leaven of truth 
once fairly introduced would spread with mar- 
vellous rapidity. 

The one hundred and fifty millions of India are 
much nearer their emancipation from the cruel 
bondage of heathenism than they were fifty years 
ago. It may be doubted whether the late re- 
bellion, fearful as it was in its direct consequences, 
may not have purified the moral atmosphere of 
the country and opened the way for the introduc- 
tion more freely and extensively of the truth as 
Protestant America and England hold it. The 
suppression of suttee and infanticide to so great 
a degree, and the gradual adoption of the railway 
and the telegraph and a knowledge of the prin- 
ciples of their construction, must soon drive im- 



THE WORLD. 361 

posture and necromancy into their hiding-places 
and prepare the way for the messengers of truth 
and freedom. 

The blighting influence of Popery, though of 
late apparently •spreading itself, is more likely to 
be crippled by causes outside of itself than any 
of the other corrupt religions of the earth. So 
close is its alliance with the political governments 
of the earth, and so dependent is it upon their 
guardianship and succour for its maintenance, that 
its destiny is inseparable from their's. Popery 
would dwindle at once into an insignificant power 
if the countenance of civil despotism were with- 
drawn from it; and there is no hazard nor un- 
charitableness in saying that even now its re- 
cognition in Papal countries is a matter of State 
policy rather than as a medium through which 
the religious emotions of the people find an ex- 
pression. Faith is reposed in the priest, — not in 
God. Worship is blindly paid to Mary, the crea- 
ture, — not to Christ, the Creator. We may expect, 
therefore, that as light advances and truth asserts 
her supremacy over the human mind the Papal 
power will wane and become extinct. It may be 
that those who are driven from her battered and 

31 



362 THE WORLD. 

dilapidated fortresses will take refuge in in- 
fidelity ; but the light of truth will follow them 
there, for none of the workers of iniquity can 
hide themselves from it. 

The continued prevalence of war is sometimes 
ascribed to the want of vigour and force in the 
principle of Christianity. But this is a hasty 
conclusion. It is indeed a depressing thought 
that the countries of Europe, even in time of 
peace, spend annually more than three hundred 
and fifty millions of dollars upon their armies and 
one hundred and fifty millions upon their navies, 
and that fifteen of every hundred of their male 
adults are constantly under arms. But the very 
skill in the art of war which the most powerful 
nations of the earth now possess may be among 
the chief causes why wars are not more frequent 
and protracted. And it is not improbable that 
when the physical power of nations becomes 
more equally matched, a recognition of the prin- 
ciples of peace will be maintained consistently 
with national honour ; and that what is now vainly 
sought by brute force will be obtained by pacific 
and generous negotiation, so that we may feel 
encouraged to do what is in our power, however 



THE WORLD. 36 



Q 



humble our position or narrow our sphere, for the 
advancement of every good work. 

If you succeed, by the blessing of your heavenly 
Father, in implanting in a single human heart a 
seed of virtue, a principle of love and obedience, 
or even a faint desire for a better and purer life, 
you may have contributed to the grand result in 
a measure exceeding finite comprehension. Out- 
side of the family and Church no more powerful 
agency has been devised to bless and save even 
their own Sunday-schools. Were each one of the 
host of religious instructors employed in them 
duly impressed with the magnitude of the work 
they have in hand and the vastness of the ag- 
gregate results of individual skill and faithful- 
ness, we might feel strong confidence that a 
bright day is at hand for our country and for 
the Church of the living God, — a day in which 
the light of the moon shall be as the light of 
the sun, and the light of the sun sevenfold, as 
the light of seven days. 

If you inquire, then, how you shall make your 
mark on the generation which accompanies you over 
the stage of life, the reply is, Qualify yourselves 
to contribute as largely as possible to the improve- 



364 THE WORLD. 

ment and happiness of those who immediately 
surround you, and let these works of faith and 
labours of love be so pervaded and energized by 
the Spirit of Christ that neither time nor space 
can bound them. "What we love/' says one, 
" we find means to follow ;" and this makes me 
earnestly desire for you that the love of Jesus 
may take full possession of your heart and be 
what Dr. Chalmers called "the great expulsive 
principle, which drives every thing but Jesus 
out, — the world, and self, and every thing." 

" What should I be without Christ ?" exclaims 
Elizabeth Fry. "Where should I stand? I 
never have known despondency. Whatever may 
have been my depths of suffering in mind or 
body, still, the confidence has never left me that 
all was and would be well, — if not in time, in 
eternity, — that the end would be peace. I never 
lose the feeling of this, and am always on the 
Rock. That conviction never leaves me."* 



* Memoir of Elizabeth Fry. By her Daughters. London 
edition, 1847, vol. ii. p. 498. 



THE END. 



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